Devotions

David prayed, “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust” (Psalm 16:1). The Hebrew word that David uses for “preserve” in this verse is packed with meaning. It says, in essence, “Put a hedge around me, a wall of protective thorns. Guard me and keep me. Observe my every move, all my comings and goings.”

David fully believed that God preserves the righteous. This blessed man declared, “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul” (Psalm 121:4-7). The same Hebrew words used in Psalm 16:1 appears in this passage. Once again, David is speaking of God’s divine hedge, the supernatural wall of protection. He is assuring us, “God keeps his eye on you everywhere you go.”

If you have trouble accepting God’s desire to preserve you, read where David said, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord … The Lord upholds him with His hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).

Even Job in his agony testified of God’s preserving power. This man lost his family, his possessions, his health, his good name, yet he addressed God as “a watcher [preserver] of men” (Job 7:20).

Time after time, our God has proved himself as a preserver to his people. Why is the Lord so intent on preserving us? We find a clue in Moses’ words: “The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 6:24). Moses says God gave them the commandments to preserve and keep them for the same reason God wants to save and protect us: that his plan for our lives will be fulfilled!

“When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).

We need to understand the depth and power of what Jesus is saying here when he talks about the Father seeing in secret. We may pray religious prayers hoping to be seen as a wonderful saint, but God not only doesn’t hear those prayers, he doesn’t even notice that we are praying.

Since God sees “in secret,” he only sees us or hears us when our hearts are in communion with him in the secret place of his heart. He will only glance upon, look toward, and give favor to that which transpires in the heart of the secret place. That prayer must come from communion with him, not from a desire to demonstrate our eloquence and passion or to make a show of our faith. It is entrance into the realm of the Spirit and not just a physical room that Jesus is talking about here. It’s his place, and when you get there, he sees you. He doesn’t see your fleshly efforts — in fact, he ignores them.

When Jesus sees you seeking him, you win his heart. Song of Solomon says that with just one glance we have won his heart (4:9, AMP). Some people have worked hard in the flesh and have yet to sense God’s favor, but those who meet him in his secret place and move out into works of love are constantly under his eyes and care. 

If you are running around striving to be recognized and honored, seeking prestige and power, hoping that people will pat you on the back, you are going to be disappointed when one day you stand before the Father. Sadly, he will say, “I know you were busy doing a lot of things that you thought were wonderful, but I saw those saints who were seeking my face.”

I am convinced that God intends to bestow his blessings upon every church and every believer who earnestly prays for them.

We see in the Bible that God’s blessing is a reflection of his incredible love for his creation. While it is invisible in its essence, his blessing is invincible, overcoming everything that earth or hell can throw against it. This blessing is rooted in the ancient instructions God gave to Moses to be carried out by the high priest of Israel:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:22-27).

This practice of conferring a priestly blessing in the name of the Lord is what separated Israel from the people around them for all the centuries of its history. Only God’s covenant people enjoyed the divine blessing. A nation favored and protected by the Lord, they knew that God had promised to listen to their prayers and be attentive to their problems. The God of the universe had turned his face toward them so that they could receive his supernatural grace.

What a privilege to live under the Lord’s favor, to daily experience his blessing! What enemy could intimidate them when God was with them in power?

I have good news for you! God is still a blessing God. In fact, the Bible could be characterized as a book revealing the Lord’s intense desire to bless every man and woman he has created. If this surprises you, just consider the fact that love always desires to bless the object of its affection — and remember that you are deeply loved by the Father.

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.

There exists a place in Christ where there is no anxiety about the future, no fear of calamity, affliction or unemployment. And there is no fear of falling or losing one’s soul. This place of total confidence in God’s faithfulness is called a place of perfect rest by the writer of Hebrews.

Such perfect rest was offered to Israel, but the people’s doubt and unbelief kept them out of God’s rest: “Those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:6). The Israelites lived in constant fear and dread, always waiting for the next crisis to happen. As a result, they were desolated in their trials.

If Israel had entered into God’s rest, his work in his people would have been complete. But because they didn’t, the Lord continues to search in every generation for a people who will enter: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (4:9).

God is telling us, “This offer of rest is for you today! There still exists a place in me where all doubt and fear no longer exist, a place where you’ll be prepared for whatever may come.” Thus, his Word urges, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1).

Today, multitudes of God’s people know nothing of this rest in Christ. As they hear the awful reports of tragedies, calamities, and deaths, they are filled with fear and dread. Their constant prayer is, “Oh, God, please don’t take one of my loved ones. I could never handle the grief.”

Yet, if you are at rest in the Lord, you won’t succumb to such fear. You will not panic or fall apart when you’re hit with some unexpected crisis. And you won’t lose hope, accusing God of bringing on your troubles. Yes, you will endure pain that is common to every human being but you will be at rest in your soul, because you know God is in control of everything concerning you.

As Jesus lay silent in the grave after his crucifixion, Satan and his hordes gloated. They thought they had won an irreversible victory but all along, God’s foreordained plan was being put into action — a plan for resurrection life!

The Lord sent his Holy Spirit down into the very bowels of death and there he quickened the body of Jesus, raising him from the dead. Then out of the grave stepped our blessed Savior, right through the thick stone. And he emerged with this testimony:

“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18). Christ was saying here, “I am the one who has eternal life. I was dead, but look, I’m alive, now and forever. I hold the very keys to life and death in my hands!”

The moment Jesus walked out of death’s prison, he became the resurrection and the life, not only for himself but for all who would believe on him from that day on. He has brought forth to us a resurrection life totally beyond death’s power.

Because of this, there is no longer any reason for a Christian to fear death or to see it as an enemy. Our Lord has conquered it completely: “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death” (Acts 2:24).

If you have received Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then he resides in you as a mighty power of resurrection life. And the same resurrection power that brought him up out of the grave will sustain you, as well. “Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). You have within your being all that is in Christ, a powerful life-force that Satan cannot destroy!