Devotions

Christ’s church has never been fully approved or accepted by the world, and it never will be. If you live for Jesus, you won’t have to separate yourself from secular company; they’ll do it for you. All you have to do is live for him. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself reproached, rejected, called evil: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake” (Luke 6:22, NKJV).

However, Jesus adds that this is the path to true fulfillment. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). In other words, “The only way that you will find meaning in life is by giving your all for me. Then you’ll find true joy, peace and satisfaction.” Christ tells us, “My church is without spot or wrinkle. When you come to me, you must be willing to lay down all sins. You must surrender all to me, die completely to self, ungodly ambition and ego. By faith, you’ll be buried with me, and I will raise you up into new life.”

Think about what it means to be without spot or wrinkle. We know what a spot or a stain represents, but what about a wrinkle? Have you ever heard the phrase, “a new wrinkle”? It means adding a new idea to an existing concept. A wrinkle, in that sense, applies to those who try to improve on the gospel. It suggests an easy way to attain heaven without full surrender to Christ.

That’s the kind of gospel that’s being preached in many churches today. The sermons are aimed only at meeting people’s needs. As I read Jesus’ words, I see that this kind of preaching will not work. It doesn’t accomplish the true work of the gospel.

Don’t misunderstand; I’m not against preaching comfort and strength to God’s people. As a shepherd of the Lord, I’m called to do exactly that at times. If I preach only to people’s needs, though, and ignore Christ’s call to sacrifice and lay down our lives, then true needs will never be met. Jesus’ words are clear: Our needs are met by dying to ourselves and taking up his cross.

David Platt wrote a book called Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream. It’s an amazing book about giving your life whole-heartedly to Jesus. 

Not long after Platt’s book came out, another author wrote a book called Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World. Basically, this book said that all this radical stuff isn't really meant for ‘normal’ people. The message was “Yeah, David Platt, you can be radical because you get paid to be radical. You don't have to work at I.B.M.; you don't have to be a plumber, so quit putting us under guilt and condemnation and shame by calling us forth to be radical.”

My father used to talk about “pillow-prophets,” leaders in the church who loved comfort and ease and also promised people a prosperous, easy life following God. The prophet Ezekiel spoke out against these types of leaders and believers.

“Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Ezekiel 34:2-4, ESV).

May God help us not to have leisurely lives that cost others. May he help us not to live only for comfort at the expense of those in need around us. I think we want that because we are convicted when we are around somebody who is set apart for God. We think things like “Man, I get paid well and have spare time, but that person has five kids and two jobs, and yet they seem to have more of Jesus than I do.”

There's a way to change that and submit to the conviction that the Spirit may be laying on your heart. I tell you, when a man or woman of God gets ahold of the Lord or the Lord gets ahold of them, comfort goes out the door.  A passionate life is no longer a comfortable life.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:7-9, ESV).

Weakness will get you sympathy on earth, but it does nothing with Satan. He has no sympathy and no mercy. If you walk around complaining, “Oh, I’m so weak, and I haven’t read the Bible for days, and I never spend time alone with God,” you might as well be whistling for Satan to come and get you.

There’s a reason scripture refers to the devil as a roaring lion. Predators look for weakness. Lionesses lie in the high grass, studying their prey for hours, and you know what they’re looking for? Who’s weak!

Zoologists don’t even know how lions can tell if a prey animal is diseased, but they know. They can sense it somehow. They know disease like they’re veterinarians. Once they begin their run and the whole herd is going crazy, another animal can come up right in the lion’s grill, and often the lion won’t even look at it or attack it. That lion is going after one animal: the weak one.

If I’m in a spiritual coma because I haven’t picked up my Bible in months, what do you think the devil’s going to do? Be afraid of me because I had an experience with God three years ago?

We have to wake up! We must start seeking God. This is the only way we can resist the enemy and become, as Peter puts it, “firm in your faith.” In spiritual warfare, the only thing that wins is the power of God, as scripture promises us, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).  

If you’re feeling weak, go to your Bible. Get down on your knees. Seek God’s face. Our enemy is pitiless, but our heavenly Father gives us strength in his name.

^{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.}

The apostle Paul declares, “But what does it [scripture] say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame’” (Romans 10:8-11, NKJV).

Simply put, we are brought to salvation through our open confession of repentance. Jesus states, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). He also says repentance is how we are healed and restored: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32).

This is good news. Jesus is telling us, “In my church, everyone is healed through repentance. It doesn’t matter who you are — the physically broken, the mentally ill, the spiritually sick — because everyone must come to me the same way. All find healing through repentance.”

What is the central message of Christ’s gospel? He makes it plain throughout the four gospels. “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15). This was Jesus’ first recorded message, and he preached repentance!

To some Christians, this may sound like overbearing language. They may respond, “Okay, but how strongly did Jesus preach repentance?” Luke answers that in his gospel. Jesus told his listeners, “But unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5).

How many churches don’t open their altars for heart-smitten people to come forward and repent? How many pastors have stopped giving invitations for this all-important spiritual work?

We must not lose all sense of our need to confess sin!

Once a woman named Celeste Horvath was New York’s most notorious madam, running a prostitution ring that catered to some of the nation’s most famous men. Celeste had grown up in a Pentecostal home, and her praying grandmother had prophesied over her, “You’re going to be an evangelist.”

Celeste rejected her church upbringing, though, and turned to prostitution. As her prostitution ring grew, she became addicted to drugs, but a battle was going on in her heart. Night after night, she prayed, “God, please let me live one more day.” Finally, Celeste was arrested. The news made national headlines.

At that point, her brother wrote to her, “You’ve shamed our family so badly that you’re beyond redemption.” Everyone who saw Celeste’s life thought she was utterly hopeless, totally unmovable; but they had a limited view of Christ.

One day during the trial, Celeste broke before the Lord. The change in her was immediate, and instantly she became a new creature. While the people in Celeste’s life had seen her only as common and unclean, the Lord had seen in her an evangelist.

Celeste showed up at Teen Challenge just before she was sentenced, and we took her in. She served time in prison where she became the evangelist God had called her to be. She led many souls to Jesus while in jail. After she was released, she became a powerful street preacher, and she eventually started a church in Long Island that was on fire for the Lord.

Are you worried about a family member or friend who doesn’t seem to be growing or maturing in Christ?

As you size up that person, are you using your own concept of Christ for their lives? Have you drawn your own circle of what it means to be a true follower of Christ and you don’t see your loved one moving in that circle? Is it possible that you are limiting Christ? Is your Jesus so tightly circumscribed that you can’t believe his Spirit may be doing a deep, hidden work? Do you condemn others for not measuring up to your standards? Do you believe that God is big enough to work on them in ways that are unseen?

Consider this as you go to your prayer closet on this person’s behalf.