Devotions

We are not our own, but His! That began when we became a new creation in Christ and were no longer living for ourselves. Our testimony became, “I once was lost but now I’m found. I submit my life to Him continually.”

In John 7 we read that Jesus did not travel outside of Galilee, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was drawing near and His brothers wanted Him to go with them to Judea so He could be recognized and make Himself known to the world. Jesus answered them, “You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because My time has not yet come” (verse 8).

But then something curious happened in this scene from Jesus’ life. The very next verse says, “After his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view” (7:10). Why did Jesus say He wasn’t going — and then decide to go? Obviously, He heard from the Father. One minute He told His brothers, “It’s not My time” and then, within a day or an hour or maybe just an instant, the Father told Him, “This is the right time, the right season, the right setting. Go!”

I often want to make my own decisions in life instead of submitting to God’s ways. We’re called to be dependent on Him, to seek His direction, to await His leading for major decisions in life. But doing this can make us feel like our lives are bottlenecked. At times over the years I’ve told my wife, “Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to check in with God about this.” I have actually envied those who apply for jobs if they want them or just pick up and move when they want to live somewhere else.

I don’t think I’m alone in having these thoughts. Listening to God and submitting our lives to His will and direction is a sacrifice but the benefits are countless. Having our hearts aligned with His empowers us for everything. 

When you choose to go with God, everything that once had the power to hold you back must let you go. That’s good news! “Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, ‘The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken’” (Genesis 24:50-51).

Laban and Bethuel represented the former authorities in Rebekah’s life that once held her back. Yet, now all they could say was, “We cannot say one thing or the other because this comes from the Lord.” In other words, there is no power of hell, no lack, no past experience, no words that have been spoken over your life that can stop you from being all that God has called you to be in Christ! Every prison door must open; all bondages must let you go. All you have to do is get up and listen to the voice of God.

I promise you one thing: You will have an incredible life when you choose to live for God! Yes, when you are determined to follow Him fully, there will be difficult days. Yet when you get to the end of your journey, you will realize that you would not trade a day of it, for you will have brought glory to the name of Christ.

Of course, just as Rebekah, each of us must make the decision to follow Christ fully. It is a personal choice to walk in purity, to be available for the needs of others, to know the Father’s generosity, and to be able to tell others about it. And so the messenger who stands before you, the Holy Spirit, is asking you today, “Will you be a bride that is fit for my Master’s Son?”

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 at the invitation of the founding pastor, David Wilkerson, and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001. 

“You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness... He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).

I repeat these words throughout my day: “I live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

If God’s Word cannot be trusted — if the Bible is not the very inspired Word of God — then life is in vain. There can be no hope on the face of this earth.

When this word in Deuteronomy came to Israel, conditions in the wilderness had become very scary for them. God had allowed them to experience thirst and pangs of hunger, and now from the very mouth of the Lord we hear these words: “I humbled you and allowed you to suffer hunger and thirst. Why? All because I sought to make you know you can trust Me. You can live on My promises.”

God was not going to let His people starve or die of thirst. He knew exactly what He would do to deliver them. And, beloved, God also has a plan for your deliverance.

Oh, how we need the Holy Spirit to lead and comfort us in our trying times. Without His presence, His guidance, His daily outpouring of strength, none of us could make it. No human determination can survive the daily testing we endure on the path.

Daily we must cast ourselves upon God’s revealed Word and trust the Holy Spirit to make it become life to us. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth… He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6, 9).

The path toward hope is one of suffering, sorrow and pain. No matter how pious, loving or good you are, if Christ is in you, you will become a partaker in His sufferings.

“But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:13, my italics). Peter tells us plainly, “Rejoice in your suffering.” And Paul says something similar: “Rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).

Rejoice in suffering? This is one of those hard sayings of the Scriptures, indeed, one of the very hardest. Yet Paul goes even further: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations” (Romans 5:3, my italics). Paul isn’t talking here about a shout or exclamation we are to make despite our trial. Rather, what he’s describing is simply being able to see Jesus in our trial. In spite of our very real human fears, in spite of a situation that appears to be utterly hopeless, we can still say, “God will provide a way.”

Some Christians may claim, “The path of hope is simply this: My hope rests in ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’” (Colossians 1:27). Very true. But if Christ is in us, He is going to lead us into the path that Paul describes. You see, the Holy Spirit wants our hope to be more than a theological phrase. It has to be a hope, a confidence that is steadfast, with a sure foundation underneath. In short, our hope is to be “Christ in us, working in us.”

Paul confirms our right standing with God through Christ: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11).

Though our hearts condemn us, we are told by John, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). Let me give an example of this from Jesus’ own life.

The day before Christ was crucified, He washed His disciples’ feet. He told these very imperfect men, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean: and you are clean, but not all of you” (John 13:10). You may wonder: “How could Jesus say these disciples were clean?” Any casual onlooker at the scene would have been astonished by Jesus’ statement. The eleven men He spoke to had already displayed pride, unbelief, selfishness, ambition, covetousness, inconsistency, and vindictiveness. The fact is, Christ made this statement about them because He had chosen them. He had put them on the path to holiness. It was all by grace!

Jesus also knew what was in the disciples’ hearts despite their utter imperfection. Moreover, He saw ahead to the time of brokenness and contriteness they were about to enter.

Let’s say I asked you to list all the sins that these disciples had committed. I believe I could confidently say that you and I have been guilty of all the same sins during certain seasons in our lifetime. Yet Jesus has the answer for us all: “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).