100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing (28 page)

W
hen I was studying the Emmaus story, I asked the Lord why He chose to restrain the eyes of the two disciples such that they couldn’t recognize Him. I asked Him, “Wouldn’t it have been better for them to see You with Your nail-pierced hands?” Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus had walked down the busiest streets of Jerusalem, lifted up His hands, and hollered, “Yo! Everyone, check this out!”

But Jesus knew that doing that would not produce true faith. He revealed to me that it was more important for the disciples to see Him in the Word than to see Him in person. Wow, those words brought so much hope and encouragement to my heart. If the faith of the disciples was based on them seeing Jesus physically in the flesh, then what hope do we have today? Jesus purposefully restrained their eyes so that they would see Him first in the Scriptures. That places you and me on
equal ground
and with
equal opportunity
as the two disciples. Jesus wants us all to see Him in the Word.

God’s Word tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17
NASB
). This means that the more you hear Jesus unveiled, expounded upon, and pointed to in the Scriptures, the more faith will be imparted to your heart to believe everything God’s Word says about you. Could it be that the reason many believers are still living in defeat today is that Jesus has not been unveiled in the Scriptures to them?

The gospel is all about Jesus. It’s not about right doing. It’s all about right believing about Jesus that makes a difference in people’s lives. The apostle Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’ ” (Rom. 1:16–17).

That’s the gospel that I am not ashamed of. I pray that you will experience your own Emmaus Road journey as you open up the Scriptures and allow His Word to bathe your heart in the warmth of His loving grace and tender mercies. It’s truly all about Jesus!

W
hen we are going through a difficult time or dealing with a heavy burden of stress, anxiety, fear, or condemnation, it’s extremely challenging to make the paradigm shift from self-occupation to Christ-occupation. So how do we do it?

To answer that question, let me show you how David encouraged himself in the Lord whenever he was fearful, anxious, or depressed. Let’s learn from someone whom God describes as “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22). God’s Word reveals to us that whenever David was in trouble, he worshiped the Lord with beautiful psalms, hymns, and praises. Instead of wallowing in his own defeat and groping in darkness, David would turn his eyes to the heavens and lift up his voice to the King of kings.

In his closing years, when Absalom, his own son, betrayed him and tried to usurp the throne, David could have chosen to retaliate by sending out his loyal troops against Absalom. However, he didn’t have the heart to fight against his beloved son. Instead David fled from Absalom with tears in his eyes and a broken heart. Just imagine how crushed David must have been.

But rather than be overwhelmed by the excruciatingly painful circumstances surrounding him, David looked to the Lord and worshiped Him with these eternal words as he ascended the Mount of Olives: “But You, O L
ORD
, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the L
ORD
with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill” (Ps. 3:3–4).

Isn’t it wonderful to know that when we cry out to God in worship, He hears us? As David worshiped the Lord, God turned his circumstances around
for his good. God allowed a person in Absalom’s camp to give him unsound advice, and as a result Absalom’s coup d’état failed.

I am telling you that no matter what your trouble is today, learn to worship Jesus in your valley of trouble and praise His lovely name. See Him as your shield. See Him as your glory and the lifter of your head. Be consumed with Jesus, and He will turn your circumstances around for your good. Let your heart find rest and peace in the security of His love.

S
ome people think that when they worship God, they are giving
something
to Him. On the contrary, I believe that as we worship and praise Him,
He is giving to us
, imparting His life, wisdom, and power into our lives, renewing our minds and physical bodies as well in His sweet presence.

Worship is simply a response on our part to His love for us. We don’t have to, but when we experience His love and grace in our lives, we want to. It’s a response birthed out of a revelation in our hearts of just how great, how awesome, how majestic, and how altogether lovely our Lord and Savior truly is. As we worship Him and become utterly lost in His magnificent love for us, something happens to us. We are forever changed and transformed in His presence. All fears, worries, and anxieties depart when Jesus is exalted in our worship.

We have seen this demonstrated through a worship collection,
A Touch of His Presence (Volumes 1 and 2)
, that we compiled from spontaneous worship songs that flowed from my spirit during intimate times of worship when we simply occupied ourselves with the person of Jesus. I would sing out what God was putting in my heart, and He would manifest His loving presence. That’s when the gifts of the Spirit would operate and healings would break out among the people in the congregation.

We received a letter from Emma in Germany who said, “Whenever the devil tries to attack me with symptoms of a disease, I would listen to these worship CDs and worship Jesus, my Lord, my Savior, and my Redeemer. I would also often partake of the Holy Communion while listening to the worship songs. After a few minutes, all the symptoms would disappear!” Another brother described how this worship music freed him from paralyzing, irrational fear and chronic sleep problems.

I share these testimonies with you because I believe that some of you want to worship God, but you may not know where to begin when you are alone at home. If that sounds like you, then start by getting ahold of anointed Christian music that can fill your room with the presence of the Lord. Allow the music to simply wash over you like rivers of living waters. Let His presence flush out every fear and every anxiety. Let His love take away the cares that burden you. Let Jesus be magnified and glorified, and watch Him turn all things around for your good!