Devotion 02/10/09

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body" (2 Cor. 4:8-10).

It's hard to find anyone in Christian history who became a great leader without earning an advanced degree at the University of Adversity. John Bunyan (1628-1688), the author of The Pilgrim's Progress, grew up in poverty and taught himself to read. As a young man, he struggled with feelings of not being forgiven by God and was tortured by visions of eternal punishment. His devout wife helped him to overcome his fear, but then, while she was still in her twenties, she died of a sudden illness. In his grief, Bunyan devoted himself to preaching. The English government, however, repeatedly imprisoned him for preaching without a license.

On one occasion, Bunyan was sentenced to three months in prison, but when he told the officials he intended to go on preaching, his sentence was extended to 12 years. John Bunyan experienced God's presence in a special way while he was in prison. In fact, it was in his cell that he penned his enduring classic, The Pilgrim's Progress. It's a book that could only have been written by a soul that was refined by the fires of adversity.

A. W. Tozer once wrote, "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply." God has a mission for your life and mine. But before we can carry out that mission, we will often go through the boot camp of adversity. If this is where you find yourself today, ask God to give you His grace to walk through this time with you. He promised He would never leave or forsake us.

Impact Daily Devotion - by Os Hillman

Devotion 02/05/09

"The Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing" (John 5:19)

In his book, When Heaven Invades Earth, Pastor Bill Johnson makes an insightful observation about Jesus.
"He could not heal the sick. Neither could He deliver the tormented from demons or raise the dead. To believe otherwise is to ignore what he said about Himself, and more importantly, to miss the purpose of His self-imposed restriction to live as a man."

In the Greek language that word nothing has a unique meaning - it means NOTHING, just like it does in English! He had NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever! While He is 100 percent God, He chose to live with the same limitations that man would face once he was redeemed. He made that point over and over again. Jesus became the model for all who would embrace the invitation to invade the impossible in His name. He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God - not as God.

If He performed miracles because He was God, then they would be unattainable for us. But if he did them as a man, I am responsible to pursue His lifestyle. Recapturing this simple truth changes everything - and makes possible a full restoration of the ministry of Jesus in His Church.

Impact Daily Devotion

Devotion 02/04/09

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21)

God speaks and manifests Himself to various people throughout the ages. It is Jesus' desire to manifest Himself to the ones who love the Father. It is easy for God to speak to people, but the problem is we don't listen and we don't follow! All Jesus asks is we as the children of God will keep His commandments.

The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre when he was sitting outside of his tent. He then bowed down to the ground as he saw these three men standing by him. In order for God to manifest to us, we must step outside of our tent!
When we step out, God will show up! Many of us hide in the tent and expect God to show up in our cozy and the most comfortable zones. No! Jesus' greatest commandment for us is to love your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength and body; and love one another. Wanna know when God manifest Himself? Step out first!

Keep His commandments and God will show up in times of need.

Impact Daily Devotion

Devotion 02/03/09

"It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road." (Deuteronomy 1:2)

It should only take approx. 11 days to travel through the desert, but the whole Israelites took 40 years to complete the journey. Why? Because of their disobedience and unbelief, they wandered in the desert and died without inheriting the Promised Land. Throughout the years, the Israelites complained to Moses regardless; in God's eye, they didn't just quarrel against Moses, they indirectly refused God's government. When they had no meat, they wanted to stone Moses, then God provided them meat; after a short while, they hated the taste of quails. Everytime they faced hardships, they began to reminisce about their life in Egypt as slaves.

How often do we back down from hardships? How often do we say to God that Your will be done in life?
That's why Jesus is saying - for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30) Do we want to stay in the desert and keep learning the same lesson for 40 years because of our disbelief? Or do we want to take up Jesus' yoke and His burden, and walk out of the desert in 11 days?

God's promises never change. Hang on and don't let go.

Impact Daily Devotion

Devotion 01/31/09

"He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light" (Job 12:22).

One of the great mysteries of the Kingdom is how God uses the darkest times in our lives to reveal greater depths of understanding of His ways. The only way we can receive these deeper things is to be driven to the depths of darkness. It is here that we discover important truths that He plans to use in our lives and the lives of others.

There is a process God uses to draw us into greater levels of intimacy. The first phase involves a depth of soul experience that causes great pain in our lives. We seek God for deliverance from the incredible emotional pain this causes. Our primary motivation for seeking God is to get out of our pain.

During this time, God meets us in the depths of darkness. We discover that He never left us but is in the midst of the darkness. We develop a new relationship with God. Gradually our motivation turns from removal of pain to love and intimacy with God. This is the place our Heavenly Father desires us to be.

During this season God will make spiritual deposits into your life. Others will be making withdrawals in the future from your life as well. You see, God reveals deep things in darkness that will be revealed in the light.

If you find yourself in great distress, know that God will bring your deep shadows into the light. The key to your deliverance is becoming satisfied in God. He becomes your all. He is your life. You will know your deliverance is near when your circumstances simply don't matter to you anymore.

Love the Lord your God with all your soul and see what things He will show you in the deep things of darkness.

Impact Daily Devotion - by Os Hillman