The Wilderness Experience (Part VI)

Leave a Comment / Humility, Patience, Pride, Purpose, Wilderness / By

In the last few devotionals, I shared about the life of Moses, Joseph, and Jesus and their wilderness experiences. In each of their lives, their wilderness journey had a different purpose.

In the case of Moses, the Lord had to break Moses’ pride and natural strength and to teach him to rely on Him fully. Moses experienced his own wilderness before he could lead the Israelites through their wilderness for forty years! He was being prepared to represent the Lord before Gods’ people, and he had to be shaped through humility, consistency, and perseverance in the wilderness.

As for Joseph’s life, although he was loved dearly by his natural father, Jacob’s love was not enough to fulfill God’s plan for his life! Joseph learned to lean into the Lord when he was all alone, and he had no earthly love to draw upon.  It was during this time that God gave him more than a dream but gave him interpretation to others’ dreams that opened the door to his destiny!

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. Luke 4:13-14

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15

Jesus did not go into the wilderness because he had any sins or weaknesses in His life.  Instead, the fasting and the wilderness experience allowed Him to come out full of power for what he was going to experience for the next three years of His life! He was being prepared for what was coming ahead as He was going to suffer on the cross for the sins of the world! He was also tempted in the wilderness in order to identify with our frailty and to be fully qualified as the High priest to intercede on our behalf  before the Father. He remained strong and courageous when all the powers of hell broke lose against Him. He resisted every temptation and allowed the Lord to do His perfect will through His life!

What is beautiful and amazing about the stories of Moses, Joseph, and Jesus is that they were all gracious and forgiving towards those who mistreated them and falsely accused them! The wilderness had taught them to give up their rights to their own plans and to have a resolve for God’s will! They were willing to be the vessel that God wanted them to be in order to be used for the benefit of others! In the case of Jesus, His forgiveness opened the door for the entire humanity to have a chance to be saved from hell and darkness! The Bible shows us that many of God’s people experienced wilderness in their lives, and the Lord used the wilderness for His own purpose and for the benefit of His people.

If we are truly honest with ourselves thriving in the wilderness is a tough process! Many yearn to change the world but struggle greatly to allow the flesh to fully die in the wilderness! Why is wilderness so distasteful to most of us? Because there is nothing there to keep us busy or distracted. It’s boring! It feels like it will never end. We can’t set goals or make any progress. We are not in control! We don’t know what to do with ourselves, and we get fidgety looking around to get our hands busy with something. Our main focus becomes how to get out of the wilderness!

The wilderness experience is supposed to shape us for God’s glory and purpose! However, it is also full of temptations! Hence, it requires our attention, courage, and patience to be able to successfully persevere through it until such a time that the Lord gets us out of it! We don’t know how the Lord is going to do it, but we know that He is faithful and He will do it in time as we cooperate with Him!

 

 

The Wilderness Experience (Part V)

Leave a Comment / God's Love, Identity, Provision / By

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,  being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. Luke 4:1-14

Jesus’ extraordinary baptism experience did not stop Him from being led into the wilderness! He was confirmed by His Father during baptism, but now He was going to be tempted by the father of lies! Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness in provision, authority, and identity.  First, although He had not eaten for forty days, He knew that the Lord was His provider and sustainer. Second, Jesus was secure about His access to power and authority, and He only wanted what the Lord had for Him in God’s timing! He had no selfish ambitions or He would have taken the bait and tried to take a short cut to gain glory without obedience and the suffering! Third, Jesus was tempted in His sonship! Would the Lord rescue Him if He threw Himself down from the top of the temple!?  Jesus knew God’s character and His love towards Him, but He also knew that God did not want to be tested!

The wilderness provides the same temptations for us. First, would we provide for ourselves and take the matter in our own hands or will we wait on the Lord to do it His way and in His time? Are you waiting on God’s provision in a particular area of your life? Are you wondering if you should try to just make it happen with your ingenuity!?

Second, are we willing to sell out our Godly convictions and values to gain honor and recognition? There is much temptation in the body of Christ to be big for God! It seems like unless we do something that is impressive to others, we don’t think we are significant or are making a difference in the Kingdom. To the contrary, there were many times that Jesus told His disciples not to tell anyone about the miracle that He had just done. Are you tempted to advertise your spiritual feats in order to prove that you are mature, prophetic, anointed, etc!?

Third, do we test the Lord by going outside of the His boundaries and relying on His love to rescue us? Sometimes, we can get so desperate that we just throw off God’s boundaries because we want what we want when we want it! We assume if God loves us so much, He will look the other way and that He is not going to hold against us. We may also rationalize it by thinking that God knows our needs and that He wants us to be happy!

How are you doing in the season of wilderness? Do you see the value of it while you’re in the midst of it? I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

 

The Wilderness Experience (Part IV)

1 Comment / Injustice, Integrity, Wilderness / By

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.  And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.  So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Genesis 39:1-6

So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Genesis 39:19-21

Joseph became a successful man in Egypt and Potiphar allowed him to be the overseer of his entire household. Joseph had earned the trust of his master and was given authority over everything that his master owned. The scripture never tells us that Joseph had selfish ambitions or had some personal agenda that led him to perform well for his master. If it was up to Joseph, most likely, he would have remained in that position for years to come and would have been happy to serve his master.

Joseph’s success at Potiphar’s house could have looked like achieving all that God had for him. However, the story wasn’t over. Although, Joseph had not fully recovered from his last wilderness experience, he was about to enter another one! Potiphar’s wife lied about him and told her husband that Joseph made advances towards her. Joseph was completely innocent, and out of reverence for God, he had rejected the woman’s advances towards him! On the surface, it all seemed unfair, but the Lord had bigger plans for Joseph’s life. He again used the unjust circumstances to allow Joseph to move out of his good position!

When we are thrown into wilderness and are faced with unjust circumstances, sometimes the perpetrators and the loss we experienced becomes the main focus.  Facing unjust circumstances is a tough process to go through, but the longer we hold on to the injustice, the more it will make us miserable and bitter. It will also take longer for the Lord to do His work and make us more like Him! We must find the Lord in the midst of wilderness and continue to follow the true North!

Joseph was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, but that didn’t stop him from being a man of integrity and working hard for the prison guard. How do you handle your disappointments? Do you only work hard when you are getting what you want out of it? Are you only performing well when the boss gives you kudos? Are you able to give your best when you are treated unfairly? Sometimes, we cannot control getting into a wilderness, but we can choose to respond in the manner that brings glory to God and blesses those around us! The Lord knows how to get us out of the wilderness. Our job is to trust Him and allow Him to develop the character of Christ in us in the midst of it.

The Wilderness Experience (Part III)

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But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.  Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. Genesis 37:21-24

So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened.  Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. Genesis 37:26-28

Joseph was the favored child of his father Israel, and to show his great love towards him, his father had given him a tunic of many colors.  In addition, Joseph was given big prophetic dreams by the Lord, but they were not appreciated by his brothers when he shared it with them. He was also assigned the unpleasant task of reporting about his brothers to his father when they were out in the field working. All these issues caused jealousy in the heart of Joseph’s brothers, so they came up with a plan to eliminate him! Joseph had no idea that his life was about to change forever.  He was no longer going to rely on his father’s favor or wealth for his wellbeing, and neither could his father protect him from his brothers.

The first thing the brothers did was to strip him of his tunic of many colors before they threw him in the pit in the midst of wilderness. The tunic was a reminder of Joseph’s identity as his father’s favorite. Since the brothers despised their fathers’ affection towards Joseph, they wanted to ensure that they were stripping him of his specialness.  Interestingly, when they lied about Joseph to their father and what had happened to him, they acted as if they were not sure if the bloodstained tunic belonged to Joesph!

The wilderness is the place where our identity will come into question. The enemy knows the believers’ identity, so he attempts to strip it and make believers question their identity. In the case of Joseph, he was his father’s favorite, but the Lord also had big plans for his life! The brothers thought they can thwart Joesph’s future by keeping him at a distance from their natural father. However, God had a bigger plan for Joseph that was not going to be fulfilled by just remaining in his father’s house as his favorite! Joseph had growing up to do, and part of that growing up was for his identity to be established in his relationship to his heavenly Father rather than his earthly father.

There are many Christians who hold on to some of their past as part of their identity. For example, if the parents adored them as a child, they expect to be spoiled in the Kingdom of God. Others had their identity tied to their education or position in the past, and they still want to hold on to that identity to avoid feeling insignificant without it. There are those who had a protector when growing up, and they do not want to lose that special relationship because they feel secure having these individuals around. Hence, they remain in ungodly ties because of what those relationships provide for them. All these types of carnal identities keep us bound to the past. God wants us to be freed from them, so we can grow in full maturity and fruitfulness that He intended for us.

In order for Joseph to come into the position that God had ordained for him, the Lord had to take him out of his familiar surroundings and remove his loving earthly relationships. This would allow him to fully rely on the Lord and to grow in wisdom, favor, and insight. His earthly father was no longer his protector or his provider, but it was the Lord who would guide him and provide for him.

Similarly, some believers enter the wilderness for God’s greater purpose to grow them in His ways and to teach them to depend on the Lord for security and identity. However, some stay there longer than necessary. They argue with God and struggle because they are not willing to embrace the change and allow God to forge their character in unexpected ways that does not make sense to their natural mind.  They keep looking back to what they used to have instead of embracing what God wants to do in their lives now.

How are you responding to your wilderness? Is it causing frustration, anger, and bitterness? Do you feel like a victim of circumstances, family, or friends? Or do you see the Lord using this to grow you and enlarge your capacity? Are you able to remain faithful and peaceful in the midst of your wilderness?

The Wilderness Experience (Part II)

Leave a Comment / Compassion, Humility, Patience, Pride / By

I shared in the last devotional that Moses’s haste and sin caused him to remain in the wilderness for decades! He became a shepherd for his father-in-law and was out of the public eye for forty years, but ultimately God had a plan for him to shepherd His people out of slavery. Can you imagine how Moses’ interactions with Pharaoh would have looked like if he had not dealt with his temper!?  He could have jeopardized his own life as well as the lives of his Hebrew brothers and sisters because of his impatience and anger. The Lord tempered Moses’ temper, so when he went before Pharaoh, he was a calm man who only desired to represent the Lord! In addition, as a leader, Moses was going to be faced with many oppositions some of which came from his own family!

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) Numbers 12: 1-3

Miraim and Aaron both were anointed by God to work under the leadership of Moses. However, they began to criticize Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman and felt as anointed as Moses! When we read further in Numbers chapter 12, two points stand out about Moses:

First, Moses did not defend himself before Miriam and Aaron. He had become a humble man, and his focus was to honor God. He had no need to explain, defend, or fight for his position. He did not use his authority as a leader to lash out at his brother and sister. Instead, he allowed God to fight his battle.

Second, Moses interceded for his sister when the Lord struck Miriam with leprosy. Moses had no ill will towards her or his brother for questioning his authority. Instead, he had a heart of love and compassion for them.

Many people hope for leadership positions in their lives, but they are overconfident about their abilities in times of pressure! Moses was a learned and skilled man, but it took forty years of wilderness for him to let go of his pride. He shepherded his father-in-law’s sheep for years before he was able to respond in humility to opposition. The truth is that this was just the beginning of many challenges and trials that Moses had to endure to lead the people of God!

Most of us like the call of God in our lives because it makes us feel significant and important in the Kingdom. However, we truly do not understand the weight of the call! Do we handle the criticism of our brothers and sisters as well as Moses did? Moses had to be processed and its fruit was patience with his family and with God’s people as they remained in the desert for forty years. Leadership requires humility, patience and compassion because God wants us to represent Him when we are leading.

Have you been in the wilderness for quite sometime? Has it been a humbling process for you? Does it feel like you are wasting good years being stuck in the desert? Praise God that nothing is wasted in the Lord’s  hands! He knows what He is doing. Continue to surrender to God’s process even when it doesn’t make sense. Allow Him to remove the self-confidence that led you to the wilderness in the first place. He knows how to replace it with meekness and allow you to shine brightly in due season.

 

The Wilderness Experience (Part I)

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If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time, sooner or later, you’ll find yourself in some sort of wilderness experience! The Bible is full of examples of God’s people who experienced wilderness in their lives. However, not all wilderness experiences are alike for there are different reasons as to why God’s people go through them. In the next few devotionals, I will share some stories from the Bible and why the individuals or people groups experienced wilderness in their lives.

Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Exodus 2:11-15

And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. Acts 2:22

Moses was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter when his mother put him in a basket and send him off in the river bank to save him from getting killed. Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him in Pharaoh’s quarters. Moses was trained by the best and was educated in all that there was to know in that time period. However, when he saw the injustices towards his Hebrew brothers, Moses became angry and acted out of his emotion. In his desire and zeal to help his people, he killed an Egyptian man for mistreating one of his Hebrew brothers. The next day, he realized that his own Jewish people did not appreciate him murdering an Egyptian, and neither did they recognize him as a man of authority in their lives!

Moses could not identify with Pharaoh’s version of royalty, and neither could he connect to his Hebrew brothers appropriately. God had put a burden on Moses’ heart for his countrymen, but the Lord had not given him the instruction to do anything about it. His impulsive action brought about a major shift in Moses’ life! When Moses ran ahead of God, it led to sin, broken relationships, and fear of punishment causing him to flee into wilderness!

Sometimes God puts a burden or a dream on our hearts. This could be related to our own personal lives or it could be in regards to an issue or a people group. We believe something has to be done and the issue needs to be corrected. But we don’t have clarity on how to fix it. If we allow our zeal to compel us to run ahead of God’s direction, it will lead us into a wilderness experience. The wilderness is the place that the Lord will deal with our pride, and He will help us to come face to face with Him.

After murdering the Egyptian, Moses fled to Midian. There he married the daughter of the Midian priest, and he became a shepherd tending his father-in-law’s flock in the back of the desert for decades to come. God still had a plan for Moses’ life, but, first, He had to bring him to a position of humility and dependency on Him.

Are you currently burdened with a situation that needs to be addressed? Do you have clarity from the Lord on to how to approach the problem? The Lord has a plan, trust Him and wait on His timing. If He wants you to do something about it, He will instruct you and will you direction.

 

Recompense or Repentance (Part II)

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Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.  And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.  So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.  And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”  So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.  But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19: 1-9

Zacchaeus was hated by his countrymen for being a traitor and working for the governing authorities against his own people. He was shunned by the people, and he was certainly in no position to ask those around him to get in front of the crowd to see Jesus. But he was curious and desperate enough that he was willing to climb a tree and have a look at Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, He knew that this man was searching and seeking for the truth. Jesus called him by name, and told him that He wanted to stay at his house. Zacchaeus rushed down to receive Jesus joyfully! This could have been the first time that someone used his name in a positive context and showed their acceptance of him. He was elated in being accepted and received by the Lord! While those watching were furious with Jesus for choosing to spend time with the despised Zacchaeus, Jesus had the heart to see this man restored to his true identity!

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4

The Lord has been longsuffering towards all of us, but we can never confuse His longsuffering with His approval of our behavior or lifestyle. While on the surface it looked as if Jesus was accepting of Zacchaeus’ lifestyle of extortion, Jesus was after his repentance! By Jesus reaching out to Zacchaeus, it caused him to recognize the goodness and lovingkindness of God, and it convicted him to change!

Zacchaeus confessed his sins by declaring that he was going to give away half of his wealth to the poor, and he was going to restore fourfold to anyone that he had cheated and stolen from! This was a total transformation in this man’s life! If he were to restore someone’s stolen property, it would have meant that he needed to confess his sin to those he had falsely accused, restore his relationship with them to some degree, and then pay them back fourfold. It also meant that he would have had to change his lifestyle and career and give up being a tax collector for the Romans. He also gave up his wealth in order to be in the right relationship with God and with others!

This is the difference between God’s recompense versus the Lord seeking repentance. Zacchaeus could have easily assumed that he was so special that Jesus chose to come to his house. He could have also claimed that God was recompensing  Zacchaeus for the bad behavior he had endured from the hands of the Jewish people. To the contrary, Zacchaeus saw God’s lovingkindness through Jesus and caused him to wake up to his true sin condition. He realized that had been wrong about the treatment of his countrymen.

Sometimes, when God is good to us,  it is not because we were right or that he is paying us back for others’ bad behavior. Instead, He is doing it to show us our true condition through His love. The Lord is always after restoring us to truth and to turn us in love towards Him and towards the people we have hurt or offended. If we were wrong on how we treated others or falsely accused people, we need to confess those sins to the Lord and have the courage to restore what we damaged due to our insecurities or selfish reasons!

We live in a world that has insatiable desire to blame others for every wrong, and people have no interest to change or to take responsibility for their part. Unfortunately, this is also true in the body of Christ, but it should not be so! We should be courageous people who are willing to see ourselves in the mirror of the word of God and take responsibility for our sins and shortcomings. We may not have the 100% of the blame for something that happened, but we did our part to contribute to the problem. Therefore, we can do our part to make it right and allow the Lord to show us how we can be part of the restoration process. Those we have hurt or offended may not receive us, but we can show lovingkindness and longsuffering just as Jesus has shown towards us. We can allow the Lord to convict them to change in due time!

Have you experienced God’s mercy today? Has He been undeservingly kind to you? Is He calling you to turn to Him or to restore a relationship that is broken? What is required of you to restore a right relationship with the Lord and with others?

 

Recompense or Repentance (Part I)

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When God comes through for us, sometimes He is recompensing what was stolen and at other times he is looking for our repentance! There is a difference between God’s recompense versus us repenting from some behavior or pattern in our lives.  When we have been wronged and God has seen our faithfulness in the midst of it, the Lord has no problem recompensing us for what was lost in the injustice. On the other hand, God sometimes blesses us in the midst of us being wrong, and in those cases, He hopes that His mercies lead us to repentance! In this devotional, I will share about God’s recompense and in the next devotional about our repentance!

According to Strong’s Dictionary (H7725) Recompense:  to return, to turn back, to turn back to God to repent, to restore, refresh, give back.

Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2Samuel 22:1

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God. 

For all His judgments were before me;
And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
 I was also blameless before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness in His eyes. 2Samuel 22:21-25

In the above scriptures, David spoke of God’s faithfulness for delivering him from the hands of Saul. David had not sinned against Saul! His hands were clean from any evil against this man, but Saul had made David’s life miserable and had tried to take his life to ensure that he was would not gain the throne someday. David wrote this song as a testimony of how God delivered him from the hands of his enemies. It was the Lord who recompensed him and gave him what David deserved. In the turbulent times, David did not stop doing the right thing and keeping his life clean from being polluted by hatred, revenge, and dishonoring Saul. David was innocent in this matter. Therefore, God brought about justice by giving back to David what Saul had tried to steal from him.

There are times that we may not have done anything wrong but someone because of hatred, jealousy, or insecurity tries to undermine us. They may try to steal our reputation through gossip or false accusation, or try to block some opportunities. In those cases, we can turn to the Lord and look to Him for His deliverance! We can be confident that God is the one who will recompense us, and we don’t have to fight our battles in the flesh. We don’t have to gossip about them or ensure everyone knows about the character of this person. The Lord sees all things, and He expects us to keep our lives, mouths, and hands clean from polluting ourselves with hatred, bitterness or revenge.

Are you in a situation that you have been wronged? Are you able to show self-control and not pollute yourself with iniquity? Leave room for God’s recompense and for Him to bring about justice on your behalf!

In the next devotional, I will share about, what if we were the ones who were wrong!? What should our response be?

 

 

 

 

The Need to Rest (Part V)

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Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
Where is the house that you will build Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,”
Says the Lord.
“But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word. Isaiah 66:1-2

 

Our all powerful God is the creator of the heavens and earth, but His rest on the earth is dependent upon our rest! In the Old Testament times, God’s presence rested in the Tabernacle, but Isaiah spoke prophetically about God desiring the habitation of people’s hearts as His resting place.

The Lord is looking for His people as His resting place. Our hearts is the place of God’s habitation, reign, and rest! Those who are poor in spirit and proclaim that they can do nothing apart from God are the kinds of people that God can rest upon. He is seeking those who don’t get agitated easily but are humble in spirit. They trust in God’s ways and His timing. The Lord wants people who take Him at His word and are able to rest in faith and confidence in Him. When we are in the position of faith, humility, and dependence on the Lord, it makes us available and open vessels for God to have a place of rest in our lives!

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. Isaiah 11:10

Isaiah provided the answer as to how humanity will reach this place of rest. He spoke prophetically of the Messiah who was going to come from the family line of Jesse. He was going to bring salvation and deliverance from the hands of the enemy. He was going to rest upon His people and His resting place was going to be glorious!

When we come in faith to Jesus, we enter His rest! He is not expecting us to do more to be worthy of the relationship. We are no longer orphans and don’t earn the relationship by working at it. The Lord knows our needs and He wants us to look to Him and depend on Him with eyes of faith and humility. The Lord has a plan for our lives, and He will show us how to partner with Him. Our job is to make every effort to enter His rest and remain in it. This in turn allows God to having a resting place on the earth by inhabiting His people thereby His name is glorified on the earth! The fruit of resting in God will be evident as we fret less, don’t lean on our own understanding, and leave things in the Lord’s hands.

Praise God for the finished work of Jesus that allows us to rest in our relationship in Him! Jesus came to make us a restful habitation for God! As He rests upon us, His glory shines through his people! How marvelous are God’s works among His people! Those who are at rest in their spirit and in lifestyle are shining lights in a dark and stressful world. The testimony of this kind of life is bound to touch many who are looking for rest in their own lives!

The Need to Rest (Part IV)

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Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. Hebrews 4:1-2

For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.  Hebrews 4:8-11

In Hebrews 3, the writer tells us that Israelites were not able to enter God’s rest because of unbelief. The writer goes on to tell us in chapter 4 that God’s rest was not appropriated in the life of Israelites because they did not mix faith with what they heard. However, God’s promise of rest still stands for His children. Jesus came to bring us rest from dead works, toil, and anxiety. The Lord’s provision of rest continues to be available for those who believe Him and take Him at His word!

We live in the age of education and information! It is all about learning, reading, and giving mental ascent to some new idea. As Christians, we also fall prey to this approach by thinking that by just reading more books or listening to more sermons, we will become stronger Christians. While reading and listening about the things of God are good things to do, the main ingredient in developing our relationship with the Lord is faith that leads to obedience! When we hear the truth, we must believe that God’s word is trustworthy and that He will accomplish what He has promised us. If we don’t take God at His word, what we hear is not going to profit us, and we will eventually get discouraged and disillusioned in our walk with the Lord! In this case, we must believe that rest is possible, and it is a blessing from the Lord that overcomes the curse of sin and toil!

The word “rest” in the above passage is about ceasing to work or an “intermission.” I like the word picture “intermission” in that it is temporary. When we watch a play, there is usually one or two intermissions during the play. This gives an opportunity for all the actors to have a little rest, and it prepares them for the next part of the play.

The Lord desires for us to live and move from the place of rest. This means when we are busy, we are not toiling or striving. We are in tune with God’s timing and seasons. In addition, the Lord places intermissions in our walk with Him where He wants us to rest and to be at peace without doing much. Many of us are afraid of resting because we think it might be permanent or are worried about others’ opinion of us. We’re concerned that we may look barren if we didn’t have something to make us look busy. We fear looking less important or valuable. All those thoughts are the lies of the enemy, and we need to reject them as such.

God created rest, and it is part of His plan for us! If we run away from resting, then we are running away from how God chooses to operate in the lives of His children and His creation. This leads into carnality and disobedience. While in the natural we may accomplish much, one day we will realize that it was not worth the toil and the stress we put on ourselves and our family.

Are you living in the rest of God? Has the Lord placed you in a season of intermission? What is your response to this season? Continue to seek the Lord and thank Him for the season of rest. Allow Him to comfort you and strengthen you during this time. Allow Him to work things out His way and in His timing.