Greater Things Are Yet To Come

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013

By Gary Wilkerson

God wants to do mighty things through us. He wants to express His love to the
world through us. So if we are clinging to one thing that gets in the way of
His accomplishing that—some willfulness, some refusal to trust Him for
everything—He points it out to us.

Sometimes God wants us to add something to our lives before He brings His best.
This may involve something we have not done, so He wants us to ask, “Have I
been slow to respond to something God has asked me to do?”

We find an example of this in Acts, when the disciples added a new member to
replace Judas. While in the Upper Room, they drew lots and chose Matthias. It
seemed like such a small thing. These same men had seen Jesus work wonders,
open blind eyes, cast out demons, even raise a man from the dead. They had seen
God’s kingdom advanced on earth as never before in history. And when Christ
ascended to heaven, He gave them this incredible word: “You will do even
greater works, once I send you My Spirit. He will empower you. Greater things
are yet to come!” (see Acts 1:1-8).

Indeed, these same disciples would go beyond Israel and the Middle East, into
Europe and India and Africa, preaching the good news of Christ to the nations,
all within their generation. What made it so important to add another disciple?
They did it for one simple reason: Peter sensed it was something God wanted them
to do.

“In those days Peter stood up among the brothers . . . and said, ‘Brothers,
the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the
mouth of David concerning Judas . . . For he was numbered among us and was
allotted his share in this ministry’” (Acts 1:15-17). Peter was referring
to Psalm 109:8: “May another take his place of leadership.”

There is a great lesson here for Christ’s church today. That is, never
overlook a nagging issue of the heart, no matter how small. God puts His finger
on these matters for a reason: to reveal our heart’s response to Him. Greater
things are yet to come!

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22808?src=devo-email

Dealing With Doubt

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

If you do not deal with your doubts, you will be given over to a spirit of
murmuring and complaining. You will live that way and die that way. Your doubts
cannot simply be suppressed, they must be pulled out by the roots.

Look at Israel just three days after their deliverance from Egypt. They had
been singing, shaking their tambourines and testifying to the power and
strength of a mighty God, boasting that He was leading and protecting them.
Then they arrived at Marah, which means “waters of bitterness.” This was to be
testing place for them.

God just keeps allowing crisis after crisis until we finally get the lesson. If
we keep refusing to learn it, a time comes when He gives us over to our own
bitterness and murmuring. “And they went three days in the wilderness, and
found no water. . . . And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall
we drink?” (Exodus 15:22, 24).

On Sunday, the Israelites were having a great time—singing, dancing and
praising. Then Wednesday came and they were in trouble. Another crisis—and
they were falling apart!

How could a people lose their confidence so quickly? Because they never had
any. They never had that foundation built under them. So again they failed the
test. They had learned absolutely nothing from their previous crisis and again
they missed an opportunity to shine forth the greatness of their God.

From that day on, Israel was beyond learning anything from God. They even began
to take His goodness for granted. They had no food, so He sent them manna from
heaven. He dropped quails out of the sky, piling them three feet high outside
the camp. But not a word of thanksgiving was heard! Instead, the people turned
to greed, hoarding all that God gave them. Israel became stiff-necked!

Oh, what a shame it is to go from crisis to crisis and learn nothing in the
process. It carries with it a curse that you will be given over to a spirit of
murmuring.

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22722?src=devo-email

Sanctification

Apr 26, 2013

Read | Romans 6:17-22

The Lord has a grand plan for the life of every person, and it can be summed up in a single word:sanctification. If you are scratching your head about what that terms means, you are not alone. Many people—even some longtime Christians—do not know its definition. However, believers should see to it that they acquire that knowledge because it’s an important word, and it definesthem.

In its verb form—sanctify—the term means “to make holy” or “to separate.” So when something is sanctified, it is separated from a common use to a sacred one. In the Old Testament, we are told that the Lord sanctified a number of things: He made the seventh day holy, set aside the Levite tribe as priests, and even consecrated places like the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle (Gen. 2:3; Num. 3).

The Lord still sanctifies people today. Before a person receives salvation, he is spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-3). What’s more, Romans 5:10 tells us that before we come to faith, we’re actually enemies of God. Yet the moment someone trusts in Jesus as his personal Savior, his sins are wiped away, and he is adopted into the Lord’s family. That individual is then set apart as a child of God for a sacred purpose. This means believers are not here simply to chase after personal gain. Rather, they are to serve God and bring Him honor and glory.

As members of God’s family who are called to reflect His glory, believers are referred to as “saints.” This word shares a root with sanctification. We are referred to this way, not because we live sinless lives but because we live a life consistent with the One we represent.

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Christ’s Blood :The Necessity

Read | Romans 3:21-26

Romans 3 communicates the very heart of Scripture. Apart from the cross of Christ and His atoning death, no one can be declared righteous.

In other words, there is only one way to become a child of God—through the blood of the Savior (John 14:6). Good works and right living will not earn the Lord’s favor, because every person inevitably sins, and a sinner cannot enter the presence of holy God. The shedding of Christ’s blood on the world’s behalf made it possible for anyone to be cleansed of sin and have a relationship with the Creator. The only requirement is trusting Jesus as Savior.

For God to be just, He must remain true to His own principles. His holiness dictated that “the soul who sins will die” (Ezek. 18:4). The penalty for sin—namely, death—had to be paid in a way that was acceptable to God. He explained through Moses why a blood sacrifice was required: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Lev. 17:11). A life must be given for a life to be spared.

On that basis, the heavenly Father provided a perfectly sinless sacrifice for all mankind. The only way God’s justice could be satisfied and His holiness could be maintained was for Jesus Christ to take our guilt and sin upon Himself and die in our place.

When we say that there is only one way to the Father, we mean that a person must believe Jesus Christ died as a perfect sacrifice. To trust in anything else is to ignore God’s holiness and the admonition of His Word (Acts 4:12).

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Two Absolutes

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

The longer I live for Christ, the more difficult it is for me to accept easy,
cure-all solutions. But in my own struggles, I have found great comfort and
help in two wonderful absolutes.

The first absolute: GOD REALLY LOVES ME. God is not in the business of
condemning His children, failures or not. He is a loving Father, wanting only
to lift us out of our weaknesses.

I caught a glimpse of that love recently while walking in the woods around our
ranch. Not once did I stop to consider the birds flying about, free and
healthy. But suddenly, on the ground just ahead, a crippled little bird flopped
around. Struggling so hard to fly, the baby bird could only flip over helplessly
in the dust. I stooped to pick it up. It was then a familiar Scripture came
flashing through my mind. “Not one [sparrow] shall fall on the ground without
your Father” (Matthew 10:29).

I once thought that verse read, “Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the
Father knowing about it.” But Matthew’s version states, “One shall not fall
without the Father.”

God is with us, even when we fall. The Father does not fall into our sin, but
He does come down to our fallen condition. He does not abandon us on our way
down. For, you see, we are that sparrow.

Sometimes we recognize His great love only when we hit bottom. You will have
won a great victory if you can be convinced God loves you even in your wounded,
crippled condition. Our strength is renewed by His everlasting love. Just rest
in that wonderful love. Don’t panic. Deliverance will come.

The second absolute: IT IS MY FAITH THAT PLEASES HIM THE MOST! “Without faith,
it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). God counts our trust as
righteousness. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness” (Romans 4:3).

I may not understand why He sometimes seems to take a long time to intervene,
but I know He will keep His word to me.

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22548?src=devo-email

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Peacemakers

Here’s Today’s Devotional From The Vine…

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. - Matthew 5:9

This seems to be too much an overlooked beatitude. There are many people who are really strifemakers rather than peacemakers. They do not seek to heal estrangements between others, to prevent quarrels and contentions, and to bring together those who have begun to drift apart. Indeed, their whole influence goes toward widening breaches, intensifying bitterness, and exciting anger and hatred. When they find in any one a germ of suspicion or dislike of another, they stimulate the evil growth. Is it not time that we should get our Lord’s beatitude down out of the skies and begin to work it into our lives? Is it not time that we should become peacemakers in a world whose beauty is marred by so much strife?

The peacemaking spirit is divine. No one in heaven finds delight in separating friends. Just so far as we get the peacemaking spirit into our lives do we bear the mark of God’s image. To be peacemakers we must first of all strive to live peaceably with all men. “If it be possible , as much as in you lieth,” says St. Paul, “be at peace with all men.”

But, further, we are also to strive to make and promote peace between others. Our ministry is not to be confined to the settlement of great quarrels, but may find even its most fruitful work in the healing of the petty contentions which we discover all about us. Whenever we find one man angry with another, we should seek to remove the angry feeling, The little rifts in others’ friendships we should strive to heal. The unkind thoughts of others which we find in people’s minds we should seek to change into kindly thoughts. We can do no more Christ like service than to seek always to promote peace between man and man, to keep people from drifting apart, and to get them to live together more lovingly.

Looking Beyond Disappointment

Read | John 11:3-6

When disappointments come your way in life, it is easy to blame yourself or others—or even both. Frequently it is difficult to know what to say or do because you cannot quite identify the real cause or purpose of the letdown.

Disappointment is often an emotional response to our own failure—or someone else’s—to achieve a desire, hope, dream, or goal. This can lead to losing faith in someone on whom we were depending—perhaps even a person we love.

The gospel of John tells us that Jesus loved Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Because of this, they didn’t sense the need to tell the Lord anything more than “He whom You love is sick” (John 11:3). Their expectation was that as soon as Jesus heard this, He would come and heal their brother. But He didn’t set out for two more days.

When He arrived, Martha came out to meet Him and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died”(v. 21). She’d had the expectation that He would come right away, thereby saving Lazarus’s life. She didn’t see His purpose, which was to perform a greater miracle.

God has reasons for permitting us to experience disappointments. He could prevent them, but He wants to show us His purpose. His desire is that we will trust and believe—and let our circumstance bring glory to Him (vv. 4, 25).

When disappointments come, will you be stalled and derailed from God’s plans for your life? Or will you find yourself open to what He wants to show you and eager to understand His purpose and lesson in those situations? The right response is simply to trust Him.

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In The Midst Of The Storm

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the
wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them,
walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they
were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But
straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not
afraid” (Matthew 14:24-27).

The disciples were so swamped, so suddenly overwhelmed, the very thought that
Jesus was nearby watching over them was absurd. One probably said, “This is the
work of Satan. The devil is out to kill us because of all those miracles we’ve
had a part in.” Another said, “Where did we go wrong? Which one of us has sin
in his life? God is mad at somebody on this boat!” Another could have asked,
“Why us? We’re doing what He said to do. We’re obedient. Why this storm all of
a sudden?”

And in the darkest hour, “Jesus went unto them.” How difficult it must have
been for Jesus to wait on the edge of the storm, loving them so much, feeling
every pain they felt, wanting so much to keep them from getting hurt, yearning
after them as a father for his children in trouble. Yet, He knew they could
never fully know or trust Him until the full fury of the storm was upon them.
He would reveal Himself only when they had reached the limit of their faith.
The boat would not have gone down, but their fear would have drowned them more
quickly than the waves beating on the ship. The fear of drowning was from
despair—not water!

“And when the disciples saw Him . . . they were troubled, saying, It is a
spirit [ghost]” (Matthew 14:26).

They did not recognize Jesus in that storm. They saw a ghost—an apparition.
The thought of Jesus being so near, so much a part of what they were going
through, did not even enter their minds.

The danger we all face is not being able to see Jesus in our troubles. Instead,
we see ghosts. In that very peak moment of fear, when the night is the blackest,
the storm is the angriest, the winds are the loudest, and the hopelessness so
overwhelming, Jesus always draws near to us to reveal Himself as the Lord of
the flood—the Savior in storms.

“The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever” (Psalm
29:10).

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22481?src=devo-email

“Christus Victor”

MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013

David and Goliath, a colour lithograph by Osmar Schindler (c. 1888) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“CHRISTUS VICTOR”
By Gary Wilkerson

“Christus Victor” is the Latin phrase the early church fathers used to
describe Jesus and His atonement. Roughly translated, it means, “Our victory
is not in ourselves, but in Christ.” If we defeat an enemy when the odds are
fifty-fifty, we are tempted to think, “I won the battle.” But when our
enemy is nine feet tall; when we have rebuked him but he comes back stronger;
when we have exhausted all our resources; when we have thrown up our hands and
said, “I can’t do this,” then God says, “I have you right where I want
you.”

Usually Old Testament stories are taught to children not as spiritual truths
but as moral instruction. For example, the lesson of Jonah is usually presented
as, “Don’t disobey God or you’ll get into deep trouble.”

Most of us were taught the story of David and Goliath in Sunday school and the
lesson is, “Be brave and courageous.” The trouble with this interpretation
of David’s story is that we are teaching our children to do something they
are unable to do. There was not a single Israelite soldier who could have
survived a hand-to-hand fight with Goliath. That battle was beyond even the
bravest man.

Likewise, when we are in a spiritual battle, bravery and boldness are not
sufficient. David knew he was no match for Goliath. In fact, he wasn’t even a
soldier yet; he was too young. The only thing David was armed with when he
showed up at the battlefront was bread and cheese for his brothers. Yet the
difference with David was that he knew the battle was not his but God’s. When
he heard Goliath’s taunts, he testified:

“This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down
and cut off your head . . . that all the earth may know that there is a God in
Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword
and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our
hand” (1 Samuel 17:46-47).

Spiritual victory is never our own—it comes from our Deliverer. In this story
David is a picture of our Deliverer, Christ. He cuts through all our anguish and
despair with an authority no demon can stand up to. Goliath had no chance that
day, for one reason: The battle was the Lord’s.

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22450?src=devo-email

The Believer’s Destanation

Read | John 14:1-3

The Bible is clear that those who trust in Jesus as their personal Savior will have eternal life. Furthermore, it promises that followers of God will spend eternity with Him in heaven.

The New Testament contains approxi- mately 200 references to heaven, most of which are from the teachings of Jesus Himself. Obviously, the topic was quite important to our Lord. Why, then, do we often fail to talk about it ourselves?

Sadly, one reason we ignore the subject is that we simply feel too satisfied here on earth. Maybe we think we have it pretty good, whether because of a loving family, a stable job, or a nice home. Surrounded by such comfort, it can seem hard to imagine an even better place.

Other people, however, do not have it so easy here on earth. They are the ones who most easily grasp the concept of heaven. They are the individuals who live their lives in need, nursing the belief that life beyond earth will supply all that they lack.

You see, it is rarely our desperation that makes it difficult to envision our heavenly home. Rather, our success is oftentimes the greatest obstacle to a desire for the everlasting home where we truly belong. We can become so distracted by earthly things that we grow blind to the spiritual reality of eternal life. Why don’t we think more about heaven? Very simply, it is because many of us don’t want to go yet!

What in your life might be obstructing the view of your heavenly home? Jesus has gone before us to prepare our eternal dwelling, and who would know how to fix a place to our liking better than our Creator? Don’t let anything dim your vision of the excellent future home awaiting you.

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