Multitudes of God’s offspring know little or nothing of a life of communion with him. Why is this so?
I believe such Christians have a sad, twisted concept of the heavenly Father. I recall Jesus’ parable about the servant who hid his talent because he had a twisted image of his master. That servant said, “I knew thee that thou art an hard man” (Matthew 25:24).
Likewise, many believers today think, “There’s no way God could ever be glad over me, rejoicing and singing in love. I’ve failed him so miserably at times, bringing reproach on his name. How could he possibly love me, especially in the struggle I’m facing now?”
I believe this is one powerful reason why so many Christians don’t want to get close to their heavenly Father. They dread drawing near to him because they sense they’ve failed him somehow. All they can conceive of him is that he’s full of consuming fire, ready to judge and condemn them.
The question for all of us today is, how can we not want to be near a Father who writes love letters to us, who tells us he yearns to be with us, who’s always ready to embrace us, who says he has nothing but good thoughts about us? In spite of our foolishness, he assures us, “Satan may tell you you’re useless, but I say you are my joy!”
You may be thinking, “Surely the Lord doesn’t rejoice over someone who’s still in sin. I can’t expect him to love me if I continue my sinning ways. That sort of thinking borders on blasphemy.”
Yes, God does love his people but he doesn’t love their sin. The Bible says he reproves every child who continues in iniquity, but he always does it with longsuffering. And after he reproves us, his Spirit fills us with a sense of his indignation over sin.
Through all of this, God’s love for us remains unchanged. The Word says, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). “The Father…with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). “I am God, and not man” (Hosea 11:9).
God forbid that his love for us should ebb and flow as ours does for him. Our love varies almost daily, going from hot and zealous to lukewarm or even cold. Like the disciples, we can be ready to die for Jesus one day and then forsake him and run the next.
I must ask you if are you able to say, “My heavenly Father is in love with me! He says I’m sweet and lovely in his eyes and I believe him. I know no matter what I go through, or how tempted or tried I become, he’ll rescue me. He’ll hover over me through it all, never allowing me to be crushed. He’ll always be kind and tender to me!”
This is when true communion begins. We’re to be convinced each day of God’s unchanging love for us. And we’re to show him we believe his revelation about himself. John writes, “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.