Devotions

The devil greatly fears the Lord’s presence in our lives. He trembles at the very thought of a believer’s nearness to Jesus. So, when his demonic hordes see you breathing out prayers and drawing near to the presence of your heavenly Father, all hell takes note: “The Lord is with this believer. He has obtained the divine presence. What can we do against him now?”

Satan will do everything in his power to rob you of the Lord’s presence. It is why he makes so many attempts to bog down your soul with worries about the future.

Simply put, the enemy of your soul wants you drained of all strength. He will use anything he can, even “good” things, to keep you away from spending time alone with Jesus. He knows your time with Christ enables you to endure fear and anxiety, even in this worrisome time.

The whole world is aware that we are facing very difficult times and as believers, we each are faced with an important question: “How near am I to Jesus in this hour?”

I believe that when things are unsettled, the most powerful testimony for a Christian is to be wholly at peace. While the rest of society is in a panic — fainting, in some cases even dying, from fear — the praying believer will be growing continually stronger. This will be so because that godly servant is receiving more and more encouragement from the Holy Spirit. The Bible speaks of that which can’t be shaken!

If you want to be able to stand steadfast in the storm, Scripture’s counsel is simple: You must have the Lord’s presence in your life daily.

How much quality time do you spend alone with Jesus? Are you growing closer to Him with each passing day? Do you pray without ceasing — silently calling out to Him throughout the day and evening? He promises to hear your cry, even when uttered in weakness.

When the world seems to be shaking, a people will arise who know how to maintain their strength in the midst of it all. These are people who draw near to the Lord in times of crisis.

According to Scripture, it won’t matter to these people if the moon and stars fall from the sky, or if the mountains quake and fall into the sea. They will still have faith in the Lord to save them, and they will not have their faith shaken by anything that comes.

In Psalm 31, David introduces a phrase to God’s people: “The secret of thy presence.” David writes: “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which you have prepared for those who trust in You. Which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues” (Psalm 31:19–20, my italics).

David is saying something very profound here to the Body of Christ, telling us, in essence: “All true strength comes from drawing near to the Lord. Indeed, the measure of our strength is proportionate to our nearness to Him.”

Simply put, the closer we are to Jesus, the stronger we are going to be. In fact, all the strength we are ever going to need will come through our secret life of prayer.

Scripture says if we will simply draw near to Christ, He will draw near to us. And by drawing near to Him, we will be given a fresh supply of strength daily. That is the “secret of His presence” that David refers to in Psalm 31.

When I personally need some measure of hope, I want to speak to someone I know, someone who has experience with enduring tribulation and pain. I don’t want someone who will offer me hollow platitudes, such as, “Just hang in there,” or “Just trust God.” My suffering soul cannot be moved or touched by words of mere human sympathy.

Rather, I would love to talk for half an hour with the believer who emailed me about having to watch his wife slowly die of Lou Gehrig’s disease. As this man described to me the depth of his pain, he said, “God is good. He is seeing me through.”

I would also love to talk with the Christian woman in Indonesia who has suffered physical pain for years, enduring one operation after another. Despite her ongoing trial, she praises God and gives Him glory in all things. Here is someone who has both patience and experience in the suffering that works hope.

My faith and hope are greatly encouraged by friends I know who are veterans of spiritual warfare. I have witnessed the many tribulations of such faithful friends and I know of their present suffering, sorrow and pain. When I call them I ask, “How are you doing?” I know the answer ahead of time, and it brings great hope to me.

They do not fake their responses. They are totally honest when they say, “David, I’m really hurting. Sometimes the pain overwhelms me. At times I hurt so badly it brings me to tears.”

These saints are enduring the fires of affliction. Yet there always comes from them a reassuring word: “God is bringing me through. I know He is faithful. And I trust Him. I know He is with me.”

Do not listen to false teachers who would have you believe God can be used like a genie to grant your wishes. Don’t ever put a dollar in a church offering hoping to get more back. God is grieved by that kind of false teaching and by the parishioners who embrace it. Our prayer can’t be, “Lord, bless me,” but rather, “Lord, align me. Set my heart right. Make straight my path. Then no lion can devour me and I’ll have Your authority to do the works of Your kingdom.”

It’s always best to run from corruption before it can happen. Over and over in the Bible we see God removing His people from corrupt situations. When He commanded Noah to enter the ark, it was to remove His servant from a corrupt world. When He led Israel into the Promised Land, He was removing them from Egypt’s oppressive bondage.

Yet it’s not just a fallen world or false church leaders that corrupt. There is the issue of our own sinful hearts. When popular preachers tell us, “You can have a prosperous life today,” something inside us stirs — especially if we feel our life has been disappointing. But our motive for approaching God cannot be, “Can I get something from Him?” If it is, we are pursuing the wrong god.

I don’t say things like this very often. But I can’t backtrack on anything I’ve written here. Friend, run from the Bible study that exists only to make you feel good. Avoid the relationship that takes you deeper into pleasure-seeking and away from Christ-seeking. Find a different faith community if yours labors to get you inside the building and then fails to train you to take Jesus everywhere. Run — and know that God is pleased with your obedience.

In the second-floor lobby of our church hangs a large painting of an early 1900s Salvation Army street meeting in New York City. The war cry, or motto, of the Salvation Army was “BLOOD AND FIRE.” Blood represented the blood Jesus shed to save all people, and fire represented the Holy Spirit, who was sent to equip believers and transform lives.

Catherine Booth, wife of William Booth, the founder the Salvation Army, understood the importance of fire as a symbol for the Holy Spirit. Known as the mother of the Army, Catherine became very famous in her own right. I once read something she said that has stuck with me, although I must paraphrase it because I cannot remember the actual source. Around 1890 she said, “I travel around the country, and I hear a lot of eloquent words and many sermon masterpieces. But what my soul longs for are burning words.”

Catherine wanted anointed messages that penetrated, stirred, and produced brokenness of heart. She felt her need and knew that change happens from the inside out. She was a leader who taught God’s Word and understood the difference between sermons that are just words and those that God had inspired to change lives.

The prophet Malachi wrote, “[God] will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver” (Malachi 3:3).

When the Holy Spirit searches our hearts, He is like a purifying fire. Just as a good fire burns out dross and impurities, unworthy things are burned out of our lives when we allow the Spirit to do His work.

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.