Devotions

Every Christian knows that God doesn’t dwell in manmade temples or buildings. Instead, our Lord has chosen to live in human vessels — that is, in the hearts and bodies of his people. Every believer can boast with confidence, “God lives in me.” Of course, the Lord is everywhere, but according to his Word, the blood-cleansed heart is his permanent dwelling.

When did God begin to abide in us? He did so when we first gave our heart to Jesus. At that moment, Christ’s abiding presence filled our being. He testifies, “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you … If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:20, 23).

Do you remember the day you were saved? Do you recall the feelings you experienced — the pledges you made to Jesus, promising to forsake all others and follow him? Jesus saw it happening eons ago in eternity — and he delighted in you. He knew you were going to receive him, even before you were formed in your mother’s womb.

“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:16).

Before you were even a seed, God knew all about you, and his son, Jesus, delighted in knowing you would grow up to be his habitation. He rejoiced at the thought of opening his Word to you: “I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

Are you fulfilling his expectation of spending a lifetime with you? Is your intimacy with him increasing or are you guilty of ignoring him? God yearns over you and he has plans for you. Let the Lord make this the first day of a new beginning for you.

Where is the church in the midst of chaos? It is full of religious activity but it is mostly flesh. That is tragic, because our Lord always has a remedy for a world in chaos. A time-tested remedy he has used for generations to wake up his dead, backslidden church, it is simply this: God raises up chosen men and women.

Our Lord uses individuals to respond to a world in crisis. First, he supernaturally transforms them and then he calls them to a life of total submission to his will. These God-touched servants are best described in Psalm 65:4: “Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts.”

In short, God calls such a servant apart and there, in the Lord’s awesome presence, the servant is given God’s mind — a divine call. Suddenly, his soul is filled with an urgency and he emerges with a God-given word, ready to walk in spiritual authority.

Biblical history reveals this pattern again and again. Time after time, God’s people rejected him and turned to idols, adopting heathen practices. And in every case, God raised up a godly servant: a judge, a prophet, a righteous king. 

Samuel is one such example. He chided Israel, “When they forgot the Lord their God, He sold them into the hand of [their enemies] … Then they cried out to the Lord, and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord’” (1 Samuel 12:9-10).

Such God-touched servants became God’s instruments of deliverance. They were able to discern the times and because they knew God’s heart, the Lord used them as his oracles.

Today God is calling many to come up out of the busyness of life and into a pursuit of his presence. “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

Have you experienced this divine urge to commune with the Lord in a deeper way? He wants us to spend time with him in quiet worship, waiting to hear his voice.

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah … saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:1-3).

We know the story of Jonah, the man who tried to run away from God when the Lord gave him a mandate to preach judgment to the city of Nineveh. But instead of warning Nineveh, Jonah fled. This story was validated by Christ himself: “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). In other words, Jonah’s story was as certain as Christ’s own burial and resurrection.

Why did Jonah refuse to obey God’s clearly revealed Word and run? Clearly Jonah was gifted and chosen by God, yet he fled God’s very presence, shutting off communion with him. As Jonah fled, he heard the Holy Spirit’s voice ringing in his ears every step of the way.

Jonah was given a powerful revelation of God’s grace and mercy: “I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness” (4:2). Of course, God is everything Jonah describes but the Bible also speaks of God’s holy, righteous nature. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).

I believe Jonah disobeyed because he thought, “Lord, every time you pronounce judgment, you are overcome with mercy. I know you’re not going to judge Nineveh because as soon as I prophesy, they’ll repent and you’ll pour out your grace on them.” He had no understanding of the fear of God, his holy, righteous nature.

Every believer must lay hold of a revelation of the fear of God as revealed in his Word: “Fear the Lord and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:7). Like God’s mercy, the fear of God is life-giving — “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence” (14:26) — and we must learn to balance the two.

Today, a lot of pastors define God’s favor as possessions, positions and acquisitions — better homes, cars and jobs, a happier family and a growing income. I believe God favors his people in this way but we short-change ourselves when we live for anything but his ultimate favor.

We all know about the biblical concept of a promised land — relief from bondage and the joy of a blessed life. The original Promised Land was a gift God gave to ancient Israel — a literal place called Canaan, a fertile land bursting with oversized fruits and flowing rivers.

This was the stuff of dreams for the Israelites who had been beaten down and exiled for generations. Yet when they arrived at Canaan’s border, God made an unusual statement to Moses: “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 33:3).

God’s words to his people here may sound shockingly harsh, but in context, we see that God had freed Israel from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and now, on the cusp of their entry into the Promised Land, God said he wasn’t going to go with them because even after all the miraculous things he had done for them, they still complained every time they faced a new hardship. Sadly, their experiences and the miracles God performed for them never translated into faith.

But Moses’ faith was different! He knew the goodness of God, as demonstrated in all his supernatural works for Israel. In fact, the Lord’s favor toward his people seemed bottomless and Moses marveled at the character of God who mercifully performed all these things on their behalf. His attitude was, “Lord, if you won’t be there, then I’m not going.”

Moses understood that far greater than receiving blessings was experiencing the presence of the compassionate, loving God who bestowed them. He longed to see God’s glory — “Please, show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18) — and I pray that today you will have this same longing.

What can we do to enjoy the favor of God today? Is there a secret, and if so, what is it? Fortunately, there are clear biblical directions to guide us. The first obvious instruction from the Lord is that we are to ask in prayer for an outpouring of his favor. Remember what made Jabez stand out in his generation: “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me’” (1 Chronicles 4:10).

Jabez, it seems, could not accept the idea of living without the blessing of God. Please notice the emphatic words, “Jabez cried out.” His was no mere mental prayer, but the deep cry of a soul that could not live without an open heaven above him.

Jabez’s prayer reminds us of Jacob, one of the patriarchs of Israel, who also had a breakthrough time of prayer with God. One night Jacob wrestled with God-in-the-form-of-a-man and afterward uttered a sentence that has inspired many people throughout the centuries to fervently seek God for more. As the man sought to leave, Jacob responded, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26). 

This kind of passionate, desperate prayer is definitely out of vogue today. Maybe that’s the reason we experience so little divine blessing on both the church as a whole and her individual members. So often we seem content with the status quo rather than reaching out for more of God. Because of this, we seem to have little effect on the world around us.

I do not fully understand the mysteries of how a sovereign God answers the petitions of frail human beings, but it does seem clear that effective praying often involves more than just saying the right words. Seeking God with our whole heart is the kind of Bible praying that secures not just answers but the blessing of God that we all need. If Jesus himself prayed aloud with tears at times, then I can certainly feel free to pour out my own soul to God. And so can you.

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.