Daily Devotion by D.Wilkerson Sep 29, 2015

 

THE VALUE OF A SINGLE BELIEVER

by David Wilkerson | September 29, 2015

One Saturday evening, I walked down to Times Square as it bustled with tourists and others doing holiday shopping. It is estimated that at rush hour, nearly a quarter of a million people pass through that area. As I stood there, I prayed while watching the masses of people.At one point, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, “David, take a look at these throngs. Multiply them several times, and that’s how many of my people died in the wilderness. Out of all those masses, only two entered into my rest, Joshua and Caleb. Everyone else died before their time, in despair and unbelief.”
The thought was overwhelming to me. As I watched the crowds, I realized they all had the gospel message available to them at any time, through television, radio, literature, even free Bibles in their hotel rooms. If only they wanted to know, they would be told that the same God who performed miracles for ancient Israel does the same for all who love Him today. Yet these don’t want to know Him. If they see someone handing out a gospel tract, they race by and wave him away. They have no gods but pleasure, money and possessions.
Suddenly, I began to see the value of a single believer in God’s eyes. And I hear Jesus asking the same question today: “When I return, will I find faith in the earth?” (see Luke 18:8). I see Christ, the searcher of men’s hearts, scouring all these venues, and finding few who truly love Him. I see Him searching college campuses, asking, “Who here will believe Me?” I see Him searching Washington, D.C., for those who would accept Him, and finding few. I see Him searching entire nations, and finding only a remnant.
Finally, He searches His church, looking for servants with a true faith. Yet, what He sees breaks His heart, grieving Him deeply. I hear Him cry as He did over Israel, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37).
As a minister of the Lord, I bear my Shepherd’s burden. And I feel His grief. Right now, I hear Him saying, “Even in My house, I find so few who have faith. Many of My own children, including My shepherds, faint in their times of trial. They don’t trust Me for their families, their jobs, their futures. Indeed, many have made their choice.”
So, what about you? The Lord comes to all of us, asking, “Will you believe Me? Do you trust Me? When I come, will I find faith in you?” How will you respond?

Daily Devotion 2015 Sep 25 by D.Wilkerson

THEY DIDN’T WAIT FOR GOD

by David Wilkerson | September 25, 2015

The Israelites went ahead of God by organizing an army, planning a strategy, and striking out on their own. But when the enemy saw them, they chased the Israelite soldiers “as bees do” and destroyed them (see Deuteronomy 1:44).

I have seen horrible cases of believers who have never entered into God’s rest. The Lord brought them to a place of severe testing—a family crisis, a financial struggle, a marriage problem—but they did not wait for God to act. Instead, they accused Him of neglect and tried to solve their crises on their own. Today, those believers have no rest, no peace, no sense of God’s presence, and they live in constant doubt. They seem to go from one crisis to another and all they can talk about is their latest problem. Yet every bit of their confusion is caused by one thing: unbelief.

The Psalmist says, “We spend our years as a tale that is told” (Psalm 90:9). This psalm is speaking of unbelievers. What is the title of their tale? It is These All Lived and Died in Vain. It’s the same story we hear people tell of unbelieving grandparents: “They lived all their years in gloom. They did nothing but murmur and complain and they died alone and forgotten.”

This is the dread of unbelief. It cuts off your spiritual history, so that all that’s remembered of you is a wasted life. When Israel’s young generation asked about what happened to Grandma and Grandpa, they were told, “They murmured and complained all the time. They had nothing to live for, so they just sat around waiting to die.”

True believers are determined to trust God even if their prayer isn’t answered. It doesn’t matter if all their goods are taken away, or even if they face death. They desire to enter God’s rest. What is the evidence of such a life? They have “ceased from [their] own works” (see Hebrews 4:10). They no longer lie awake at night trying to solve their problems in their own wisdom and skill. Instead, they turn everything over to Jesus. It doesn’t matter whether they end up in gain or loss. Their only focus is that God has a plan, and that He is working it out in their lives.

Daily Devotion 24 sep 2015 by D.Wilkerson

THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNBELIEF
by David Wilkerson
September 24, 2015

“The hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them . . . until all the generation of the men . . . were wasted out from among the host” (Deuteronomy 2:15, 14). Here is some of the strongest language in all the Bible regarding unbelief.
You may say, “But that isn’t the language of grace. God doesn’t deal that severely with unbelief today.” Not true. The Bible says that today, under grace, “without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
This sin of unbelief cannot be isolated to a single issue in our lives. It spills over into everything, tainting and defiling every detail of our walk.
Israel’s doubt wasn’t just limited to God’s ability to slay their enemies. Their doubt spilled over into their trust for daily provisions. They doubted God’s ability to protect their children. They doubted whether He would lead them into the Promised Land. They doubted that He was even with them. That’s why God told them, “Turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness . . . for I am not among you” (Deuteronomy 1:40, 42).
If we have unbelief in one area, it spreads into every area, defiling our whole heart. We may trust God in certain matters, such as believing He saves us by faith, that He’s all powerful, that His Spirit abides in us. But do we trust Him for our future? Do we believe Him to provide for our health and finances, to give us victory over sin?
Unbelief leads to the sin of presumption. To presume is to dare to think we know what’s right. It’s an arrogance that says, “I know the way,” and then acts on its own.
Here is yet another sin that Israel committed in its unbelief. When God told them to turn back to the wilderness, they didn’t want to obey. Instead, they came to Moses and said, “Okay, we sinned. But we’ve got it figured out now. We’re ready to obey God’s command to go up against the enemy.” And they took matters into their own hands.
Many doubting believers make a tragic mistake in a significant way: When they fail in a matter of faith, they turn to the flesh. They do what they think must be done, but they proceed in their own wisdom and skill. Faith always resists acting in fear and waits for God to work. Faith is never willing to make something happen by going ahead of God.

Daily Devotion 23 sept 2015 by David Wilkerson

WILL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH?
by David Wilkerson | September 23, 2015

Jesus came as a prophet and a miracle worker to His own house, Israel. Yet, “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). What an incredible statement. Unbelief limited even Christ’s power to work.

We see other tragic results of unbelief throughout the New Testament. The disciples couldn’t cast out a demon from a small child because of their unbelief—and Jesus rebuked them for it (see Matthew 17:14-21). After the resurrection, Christ was shocked again by their unbelief: “[He] upbraided (rebuked) them with their unbelief and hardness of heart” (Mark 16:14). Moreover, Paul says of the Jews, “Because of unbelief they were broken off” (Romans 11:20).

Why is God’s judgment of unbelief so severe in the New Testament? It’s because believers today have been given something that Old Testament saints could only dream of. God has blessed us with the gift of His Holy Spirit. Under the Old Covenant, believers were only occasionally visited by God’s Spirit; they had to go to the temple to experience the Lord’s presence. But today God makes His dwelling place in His people. We are His temple, and His presence abides in every believer.

In the Old Testament, Abraham was occasionally visited by an angel or given a word from God. He trusted that God was able to do all He pledged and “staggered not at the promise of God” (Romans 4:20). Yet, today, Jesus is available to us at any hour of the day. We have the ability to call on Him our entire lifetime, and we know He’ll respond. He invites us to come boldly to His throne room and make our petitions known. And He gives us comfort and guidance through the Holy Spirit.

Yet, in spite of these blessings, we still doubt God in our times of extreme testing. Jesus rebukes such unbelief, saying, “Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7-8). If Christ were to return today, would He find faith in you?

http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/33903

LOVING YOUR ENEMIES by David Wilkerson

LOVING YOUR ENEMIES by David Wilkerson | June 12, 2015 [May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

One of the supreme marks of a mature believer is love for all of lost humankind. Such a Christian shows love equally for Jews and Palestinians, for Bosnians and Serbs, for everyone.

Only a full-grown, mature believer can accept these words of Jesus: “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Mathew 5:44). I ask you: Can you imagine spending a month in a Palestinian field hospital, nursing and feeding soldiers who want to destroy Israel? Can you keep your prejudices in check as you read inflammatory news reports in the coming days? Will you have the same spirit that was in Christ, who said as He was crucified, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”?

If you want to walk as Jesus walked, you can’t allow your human passions to be inflamed by headlines. Christ died for every lost soul on this earth, including abortion doctors, murderers, rapists, child molesters. Right now, our jails are filled with convicts who have become powerful witnesses of the saving love of Jesus, all because somebody loved them in spite of their sins.

You can know you’re growing in grace if you’re able to pray for those whom the world hates. As we hear of terrible things happening, we are to stand against every prejudice that rises up in us, and declare, “I take Christ’s authority over this. I will love humankind as my Lord did.”

Here is the great promise that puts to rest all our feelings of doubt and uncertainty: “Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth . . . giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. . . . They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

Dec 31 - Jesus The Conqueror

Daily Devotion

Jesus The Conqueror

Jesus. That is the Name by which you conquer. Jesus. Not as cringing suppliants but as those recognizing a friend, say My Name -- Jesus. "Thou shalt call His Name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."

And in that word "sins" read not only vice and degradation, but doubts, fears, tempers, despondencies, impatience, lack of Love in big and little things. Jesus. "He shall save His people from their sins." The very uttering of the Name lifts the soul away from petty valley-irritations to mountain heights.

"He shall save His people from their sins." Savior and Friend, Joy-bringer and Rescuer, Leader and Guide -- Jesus. Do you need delivering from cowardice, from adverse circumstances, from poverty, from failure, from weakness?

"There is none other Name . . . whereby you can be saved" -- Jesus. Say it often. Claim the Power it brings.

"Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven." Psalm 148:13

 

 

Dec 30 - Fishers of Men

Daily Devotion

Fishers of Men

When you think of those of whom you read who are in anguish, do you ever think how My Heart must ache with the woe of it, with the anguish of it?

If I beheld the city and wept over it, how much more should I weep over the agony of these troubled hearts, over lives that seek to live without My sustaining Power.

"They will not come into Me that they might have Life."

Live to bring others to Me, the only Source of Happiness and Heart-Peace.

"Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." John 4:35

 

 

Dec 29 - Work & Prayer

Daily Devotion

Work & Prayer

Work and prayer represent the two forces that will ensure your success. Your work and My work.
For prayer, believing prayer, is based on the certainty that I am working for you and with you and in you.

Go forward gladly and unafraid. I am with you. With men your task may be impossible, but with God all things are possible.

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13

Dec 28 - Signs & Feelings

Daily Devotion

Signs & Feelings

Our Lord, Thou art here. Let us feel Thy nearness.

I am here. Do not need feeling too much. To ask for feeling too much is to ask for a sign, and then the answer is the same as that I gave when on earth. "There shall no sign be given but the sign of the prophet Jonah. . . . For as Jonah was three days and three nights . . . so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Veiled from sight to the unbeliever. To the believer the veiling is only temporary, to be followed by a glorious Resurrection. . . .

What does it matter what you feel? What matters is what I am, was, and ever shall be to you -- A Risen Lord. . . . the feeling that I am with you may depend upon any passing mood of yours -- upon a change of circumstances, upon a mere trifle.

I am uninfluenced by circumstances. . . . My Promise given is kept. I am here, one with you in tender loving friendship.

"Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth." Psalm 119:151

 

 

Dec 27 - Glorious Work

Daily Devotion

Glorious Work

I have stripped you of much, that it should be truly a life of well-being. Build up stone by stone upon a firm foundation, and that Rock is your Master -- that Rock is Christ.

A life of discipline and a joyous fulfillment is to be yours . . . . Never lose sight of the glorious work to which you have been called.

Let no riches, no ease entice you from the path of miracle-working with Me upon which your feet are set. Love and Laugh. Trust and pray. Ride on now in a loving humility to victory.

"Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death." Proverbs 11:4

 

 

Dec 26 - Health and Wealth

Daily Devotion

Health and Wealth
Be not afraid, health and wealth are coming to you both. My wealth which is sufficiency for your needs, and for My work you long to do.

Money, as some call wealth, to hoard, to display, you know is not for My Disciples.

Journey through this world simply seeking the means to do My Will and work. Never keep anything you are not using. Remember all I give you will be Mine, only given to you to use. Could you think of Me hoarding My Treasures? You must never do it. Rely on Me.

To store for the future is to fear and to doubt me. Check every doubt of Me at once. Live in the Joy of My constant Presence. Yield every moment to Me. Perform every task, however humble, as at My gentle bidding, and for Me, for love of Me. So live, so love, so work.

You are the Apostles of the Little Services.

"Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set your heart upon them." Psalm 62:10

 

 

Dec 25 - Babe of Bethlehem

Daily Devotion

 Babe of Bethlehem

Kneel before the Babe of Bethlehem. Accept the truth that the Kingdom of Heaven is for the lowly, the simple.

Bring to Me, the Christ-child, your gifts, truly the gifts of earth's wisest.

The Gold -- your money.

Frankincense -- the adoration of a consecrated life.

Myrrh -- your sharing in My sorrows and those of the world.

"And they presented unto Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh."

"Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off." Psalm 138:6

 

 

Dec 24 - He Is Coming

Daily Devotion

He Is Coming
Our Lord, Thou art here. Let us feel thy nearness.
 Yes! but remember the first Hail must be that of the Magi in the Bethlehem stable. Not as King and Lord in Heavenly triumph must you first hail Me. But as amongst the lowliest, bereft of earth's pomp like the Magi.

So to the humble the worship of humility -- the Bethlehem Babe -- must be the first Hail.

Then the worship of repentance. As earth's sinner, you stand by Me in the Jordan, baptized of John, worshiping Me the Friend and Servant of sinners.

Dwell much on My Life. Step out beside Me. Share it with Me. Humility, Service, Worship, Sacrifice, Sanctification -- Steps in the Christian Life.

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14

 

 

Dec 23 - The World's Song

Daily Devotion 

The World's Song
Bless us, O Lord, we beseech Thee and show us the way in which Thou wouldst have us walk.

Walk with Me in the way of Peace. Shed Peace, not discord, wherever you go. But it must be My Peace.

Never a Peace that is a truce with the power of evil. Never harmony if that means your life-music being adapted to the mood and music of the world.

My disciples so often make the mistake of thinking all must be harmonious. No! Not when it means singing the song of the world.

I, the Prince of Peace, said that I came "not to bring Peace but a sword."

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also we are called...and be ye thankful." Colossians 3:15

 

 

Dec 22 - Practice Protection

Daily Devotion 

Practice Protection

Fear no evil because I have conquered evil. It has power to hurt only those who do not place themselves under My Protection. This is not a question of feeling, it is an assured fact.

All you have to do is say with assurance that whatever it is cannot harm you, as I have conquered it. Children, in not only the big, but the little things of life, be sure of My conquering Power. Know that all is well. Be sure of it. Practice this. Learn it until it is unfailing and instinctive with you.

But practice it in the quite small things, and then you will find you will do it easily, naturally, lovingly, trustingly, in the big things of life.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

Dec 21 - Smile Indulgently

Daily Devotion

Smile Indulgently

Children, take every moment as of My Planning and ordering. Remember your Master is the Lord of the day's little happenings. In all the small things yield to My gentle pressure on your arm. Stay or go, as that pressure, Love's pressure, indicates.

The Lord of the moments, Creator of the snowdrop and the mighty oak. More tender with the snowdrop than the oak.

And when things do not fall out according to your plan, then smile at Me indulgently, a smile of Love, and say, as you would to a human loved one, "Have Your way then" -- knowing that My loving response will be to make that way as easy for your feet as it can be.

"And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities." Luke 19:17

 

 

Dec 20 - Depression

Daily Devotion

Depression

Fight fear as you would fight a plague. Fight it in My Name. . . . Fear, even the smallest fear, is the hacking at the cords of Love that bind you to Me.

However small the impression, in time those cords will wear thin, and then one disappointment, or shock, and they snap. But for the little fears the cords of Love would have held. 

Fight fear.

Depression is a state of fear. Fight that too. Fight. Fight. Depression is the impression left by fear. Fight and conquer, and oh! for Love of Me, for the sake of My tender, never-failing Love of you, fight and love and win.

"Here my voice, O God, in my prayer; preserve my life from fear of the enemy." Psalm 64:1

 

 

Dec 19 - Perfect Love

Daily Devotion

Perfect Love

Our Lord, give us that Perfect Love of Thee that casts out all fear.

Never let yourselves fear anybody or anything. No fear of My failing you. No fear that your faith will fail you. No fear of poverty or loneliness. No fear of not knowing the way. No fear of others. No fear of their misunderstanding.

But, My children, this absolute casting out of fear is the result of a Perfect Love, a perfect Love of Me and My Father. Speak to Me about everything. Listen to Me at all times. Feel My tender nearness, substituting at once some thought of Me for the fear.

The powers of evil watch you as a besieging force would watch a guarded city -- the object being always to find some weak spot, attack that, and so gain an entrance. So evil lurks around you, and seeks to surprise you in some fear.

The fear may have been but a small one, but it affords evil a weak spot of attack and entrance, and then in some rushing despondency, doubt of Me, and so many other sins. Pray, My beloved children, for that Perfect Love of Me that indeed casts out all fear.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith." 1 Peter 5:8-9

 

 

Dec 18 - See Wonders

Daily Devotion

See Wonders

Think your thought-way into the very heart of My Kingdom. See there the abundance of delights in my storehouse, and lay eager hands on them.

See wonders, ask wonders, bear wonders away with you. Remember this beautiful earth on which you are was once only a thought of Divine Mind. Think how from your thought one corner of it could grow and become the Garden of the Lord, the Bethany-Home for your Master, a place to which I have a right to bring My friends, My needy ones, for talk and rest with Me.

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  A good man...bringeth forth good things: and an evil man...bringeth forth evil things." Matthew 12:34-35

 

 

Dec 17 - Conditions of Blessings

Daily Devotion

Conditions of Blessings

Jesus, we love Thee. We see that all things are planned by Thee. We rejoice in that vision.

Rejoice in the fact that you are Mine. The privileges of the members of My Kingdom are many. When I said of My Father, "He maketh His Sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust," you will notice it was the temporal and material blessings I spoke.

I did not mean that the believer and unbeliever could be treated alike. That is not possible; I can send rain and sunshine and money and worldly blessings equally to both, but of the blessing of the Kingdom that would be impossible.

There are conditions that control the bestowal of these. My followers do not always understand this, it is necessary they should do so if they are remembering My injunction which followed -- "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect."

To attempt to bestow on all alike your Love and Understanding and interchange of thought would be impossible. But temporal blessings you too bestow, as does My Father. All must be done in Love and in the spirit of true forgiveness.

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." John 15:16