THE DIVINE AGENDA IN ALL ADVERSITY IN THE LIFE OF THE DISCIPLE
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love” (I Peter 1:6-7).
Every true disciple, sooner or later, walks through the valley of adversity. The reality of saving faith in the Lord Jesus, by its very essence, implies that there must be a testing of that faith. God did not grace us with the gift of saving faith to serve merely as a tool for the personal acquisition of pleasures and treasures. The very gift of faith in the Lord is graced to you to be matured, expanded, and enlarged, through the testings and proving of adversities and afflictions.
The Word of God clearly declares that many are the adversities and afflictions of the followers of Christ. This diversity of adversities assaults the children of God from many different directions and many varying degrees. Some trials and troubles come from expected people, places, and circumstances of life. These adversities are a living reality for the disciple of Jesus Christ.
Every follower of the Lord Jesus has been graced with glorious privileges. I am among those who have tasted the blessed joys of knowing the Lord Jesus. I have been brought into a saving knowledge of the Great Pearl of heaven! I have been given to drink of the rivers of God’s precious pleasures. I am in personal possession of the earnest of the inheritance, who is dwelling within me. Yet, like other believers, to prevent me from thinking more highly of myself than I ought to think, I am frequently given humbling visitations of adversities and afflictions.
You would think that a person who has previously seen himself as a bankrupt, guilty, condemned, and desperately needy sinner would never succumb to the poison of pride again! Yet both scripture and personal experience inform me that a saint can become proud even of his measure of grace! They can become guilty of being proud of our good works; proud of our spiritual adventures; proud of our spiritual accomplishments; proud of our spiritual position; and even proud of knowing more of the Lord Jesus Christ than others may appear to know! It is for these divine reasons that our Lord graces us with thorns of adversities and afflictions of various kinds! Out of His love and care for His own, the Lord is preventing pride in our lives, which is our greatest enemy; promoting humility in our lives, which is our greatest friend; and drawing us to personal dependence on His sustaining grace, which is our great blessing.
For this reason, the apostle Paul could give praise, writing, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Dear friend, do you desire to be strong? Then you must boast about your weaknesses! Do you desire to be truly blessed? Then you must become poor in spirit. Do you long to be first? Then you must be willing to occupy the last seat. Do you desire to be exalted on that final day? Then you must be willing to be brought low! Do you want to be a spiritual leader? Then you must be willing to serve others as a servant. Do you have a passion to be fruitful? Then you must die to self-centeredness.
Do you find that you are not as ready to praise your Lord when things are going wrong and the road is difficult as you are when they are going right from your limited viewpoint? You may have enough spiritual insight to thank the Lord for your roses, but do you thank Him for your thorns? Oh, how I need to value His “orchestrated thorns” more and more, which He sovereignly places into my life and ministry.
My perfectly wise Father is preventing pride, promoting humility, and prompting dependence on His all-sufficient grace, growing me more into His image. Thank you, Oh my, Father!
As we step into this new year, we are excited to welcome you back and begin a fresh season of daily devotions, spending time in God’s Word together.
THE MASTER’S CROSS OF PROPITIATION; THE SERVANT’S CROSS OF PROCLAMATION! — Part 1
“Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings FOR the gospel according to the power of God, ...” (2 Timothy 1:8).
These words from the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 1:8 encouraged me greatly this morning. I sit before my open Bible, less than 48 hours away from heading to the other side of the world. I am well aware of my physical affliction with small fiber neuropathy (which has caused my feet and hands to burn continually) for the last 14 years. In recent years, this malady has been complicated by three serious illnesses. Even now, as I prepare for this next opportunity, I am battling an ongoing bacterial infection in my small intestines, ‘Barrett’s Esophagus’, and still not totally out of the woods concerning this latest “flu-like bacterial assault” that both Dianne and I have struggled with for well over a week.
Moreover, I received the news that ‘the location of this upcoming pastor’s conference’ was recently attacked by a group of furious men, who rushed into the worship place, demolishing it, and assaulting the brothers and sisters who were participating in worship. However, because of the timely intervention of the police, there were no further problems. The decision was made to forge ahead with the conference.
It is with this personal backdrop, ruminating in my heart, that this precious verse came powerfully to me this morning. I needed this timely reminder of what I have been teaching for many years in many nations: “God’s design for the evangelism of the world and the consummation of His sovereign purpose often INVOLVES THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS SERVANTS!” To state this truth more specifically, my dear friend, God’s blueprint for His great mission actually incorporates the sacrifice and suffering of His servants. It is, in fact, one of the Lord’s essential means in the triumphant spread of His Gospel among the nations of the world!
Dear reader, the Lord God, in His sovereign wisdom, has ordained voluntary sacrifice and suffering in the life of His disciples, for the salvation of souls and the glory of God! This truth I am referring to refers to your personal willingness to be a living sacrifice to the Lord, Who gave Himself as a sinless sacrifice for the salvation of your eternal soul. This describes the born-again disciple of Jesus testifying with a sincerity from the heart, “Here am I, Lord! Send Me. I am ready and willing to go anywhere; at anytime; to anyone; and at any cost; for the extension of the kingdom of Jesus into the hearts and lives of sinners."
Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto Me….” is often quoted in the context of calling for world evangelism. But we should not neglect to consider that the Greek word translated as “witness” is actually the word that means "martyr"? So, let's look at that verse again. “You shall be martyrs unto Me.”
I realize that the immediate response of many 'professing believers' in our culture would be, “Well, Ed, we live in the United States of America. We will never be martyrs unto Jesus.” Oh, but consider that, “If you are going to be a faithful ambassador for the King of kings, then you will have to DIE to your comfort zone? Certainly, one will have to DIE to some spare time, to saturate their mind and heart with a “Christ-centered gospel message. Additionally, you will have to DIE to your plans so that you can invest quality, consistent, and priority time in evangelistic intercessory prayer for the lost sinners that God has placed within your sphere of influence. Some may very well have to DIE to apathy, complacency, and numerous other self-centered and worldly goals and desires. You may even have to DIE to personal fear, shyness, or timidity, to become a courageous and compassionate witness.
The verse, Colossians 1:24, in which Paul writes, “I now rejoice in MY SUFFERINGS for you, and fill up in my flesh what is LACKING in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Some may gloss over that as a typographical error; for there is absolutely NOTHING LACKING in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord paid the full price for our atonement! But it is not a typo, it is a divinely inspired word of God. So then, what does this servant of Christ mean by saying, “he is filling up what is lacking in the suffering of Jesus?”
Dear friend, the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily became the sinless, substitutionary sacrifice and suffering for my PROPITIATION, the atonement for sin. But I, and every born-again believer, am to be involved in voluntary sacrifice and suffering for the PROCLAMATION AND PROPAGATION of His message of propitiation. The Lord Jesus purposely and perfectly took up His Cross for the salvation of sinners. But I, as His follower, take up my cross of voluntary sacrifice and suffering for the declaration of His glorious message of salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth! “Lord, anywhere; anytime; to anyone; at any cost!
As we close out another year and enter a new one, I want to view it as another opportunity to serve and love the Lord each day.
I want to consider each and every day a gift to be embraced and cherished. Looking ahead, there may be days of triumph and days of adversity, yet through it all, the Lord God Almighty reigns.
I encourage you to ponder with me as we close out 2025 and enter 2026, with Psalm 100.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness: Come before HIs presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God: it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”
I'm really looking forward to posting the next series of devotions beginning on January 5th. Hope you will join us.
Striving to do God's work, God's way for God's glory,
Ed Lacy Ministries
🎄 Merry Christmas from our Ministry Family to Yours! 🎄
As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, we are filled with gratitude for each of you who walk alongside us in faith and support.
We will be taking a short break to spend time with our family and reflect on the true meaning of this season. During this time, we pray your homes are filled with peace, joy, and the love of Christ.
Thank you for being part of our ministry.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…” – Isaiah 9:6
May Christ be the center in our homes and lives this Christmas!
Facing A New Threshold — Part 4
Do you realize that God calls everyone who has not made personal preparation for their own death or for the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, an abject FOOL? While no one likes to think of this truth, notice Luke 12:16-20, "Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to him, 'FOOL! THIS NIGHT YOUR SOUL WILL BE REQUIRED OF YOU; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'"
This simpleton imagined that he would live life like a man who had won the lottery. He thought that this present physical existence consisted of nothing more than the pursuit after the acquisition and maintenance of wealth". Oh, he was continually involved in fervently seeking after the transitory things of this world. But he perpetually neglected to prepare for the heavenly things which alone have eternal value and spiritual significance!
If anyone continues to enter the days given to them in the tragic condition of "not being rich toward God," they manifest the futile reality that, like this man in Luke 12, they are spiritless and utterly self-centered. They are in grave danger of forfeiting their never-dying soul to be without hope forever. If an individual is not rich toward God, possessing the "imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ", they are entering into a new year in a perilous condition.
Dear reader, if you are not rich toward God, if you have not been miraculously graced with a "spiritual heart transplant". You are not rich toward God if you have not supernaturally entered into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not rich toward God, through the indisputable evidence that you have entered into a vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and are not rich toward God, with an experiential communion with Christ, then friend, sadly, God declares that you are a DEFILED AND DESTITUTE FOOL!
Oh, you may have made judicious "financial arrangements" for the day of your death, so that your family will not be destitute; but have you entered into a saving knowledge and vital union with Jesus, or do you remain spiritually bankrupt? You may have made wise investments in the stock market, but have you been redeemed out of the SLAVE MARKET of sin?
What if God should say to you these words He spoke of in this parable, "Before nightfall, your soul will be required of you"? Are you prepared? Would you exit this world with a naked soul, which has never been clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, through repentance toward God and saving faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ? It would be a horrible way to enter into another year, being like the example Jesus describes as a PATHETIC FOOL, who is not ready to die!
Again, Jesus would use another parable to warn of these things in Matthew 25. Jesus said, "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were FOOLISH. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took NO OIL with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the FOOLISH said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready WENT IN WITH HIM to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I DO NOT KNOW YOU.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Be prepared, do not delay, eternity awaits. The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come again.
Facing A New Threshold — Part 3
Let's continue to consider the distinct possibility of the 2nd coming of the Lord Jesus Christ or the possibility of our own demise in the upcoming year. As mentioned in the previous devotion, funerals are a reality in our lives, funerals of friends, acquaintances, or relatives. It is always a stark reminder that, barring the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, it will be one of us lying lifeless in the coffin, while someone else is preaching our funeral.
As we stand on the verge of entering a new year, it is wise to remember that this life is brief and uncertain. As in recent events in our lives, one can be in their 70s or 80s when death draws near. But we have also witnessed young people, teenagers, and early 20s just beginning their lives when they die from either illnesses or accidents. We have also seen the heartbreak of losing a child just a few months old. All of these are powerful reminders that we have, at our very best, a very temporary and transitory existence on this earth.
This transitory physical life will soon be gone, and then we will fly away! Job declared, "Our days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. My life is but a breath!" Jacob once said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; FEW and evil have been the days of the years of my life." James correctly pointed out our foolish tendency toward carelessness when considering the brevity of the future, writing: "Life is but a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away."
The Word of God clearly states that not one of us knows how long the gift of breath will be given to us by the Sovereign Lord. Human life is very tenuous in relation to its temporary existence on this earth. As a matter of fact, our physical lives hang on a thread that would make a spider's web appear to be as thick as a rope! Your life is being held in the hand of a Sovereign and Omnipotent Lord God, your Creator. All the Lord has to do is cut that tiny thread, and you and I would depart the land of the living and immediately enter into eternity.
God's word exhorts all by warning, "Do not boast of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." There have been three distinct occasions in recent years when suddenly I was faced with the real possibility of my own death! This is precisely why the emergency room is open 24 hours a day! None of us knows what tomorrow may bring. And you can be certain that a new year, even a new day, is manifestly uncertain. The entirety of life is not only brief; it is also intensely unsure, unclear, and uncertain.
On the other hand, death is the universal reality and an absolute certainty for the entire human race, as we have discussed in a previous devotion, "It is appointed unto men once to die." When a baby takes that 'first inhalation of air into those tiny lungs', there is one certain thing. It is an undeniable fact that the same baby, barring the 2nd coming of Christ, is going to one day take its last breath. As sure as someone recorded the record of that baby's birth, someone will likewise record the record of their death.
Acts 17 underscores the brevity of life and the certainty of death. For the passage reveals that, "GOD GIVES LIFE AND BREATH AND ALL THINGS to every human being." Friend, stop and take a deep breath right now. Every time that you take that breath, you can be assured that it is God who is giving you the very act of inhaling and exhaling. The very next breath you take is a gift from God, and the next, and the next.
Moreover, dear reader, you can be certain that there is a moment coming when God will give you the last inhalation and exhalation of your lungs and the last beat of your heart. It is a biblical reality that your physical life has an expiration date, and that expiration date may fall in this calendar year!
Consider the following truth: "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". For this precise reason, it is imperative to consider this question again in your consciousness: "Have you truly entered into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you genuinely entered into a living union with the Lord Jesus?" Oh, dear friend, I realize this reality most would rather avoid thinking and talking about. But I would be remiss if I didn't warn you that there is no guarantee of what the new year holds for you.
Ed Lacy Ministries – Striving to do God's work, God's way, for God's Glory
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Facing A New Threshold — Part 2
"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until THE DAY that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Watch therefore, for you do not know WHAT HOUR your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, YOU ALSO BE READY, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew 24:37-44).
As we continue to consider the stark reality that, as we enter into the inception of a new year, each one of us MUST BE PREPARED for the distinct possibility of either 'our own death or the imminent return of the Lord Jesus'. The multitudes in Noah's Day were involved in all of life's normal human activities, eating, drinking, marrying, etc. Yet they continually rejected or neglected the pleadings of Noah, this godly preacher, who was heralding for them to repent and follow the Lord! Day after day, they refused to prepare for the wrath of the flood that was declared to be coming upon them.
Suddenly, the Day of the wrath of the flood consumed the vast multitudes of unprepared sinners, just as the Lord had warned. Only Noah and his immediate family entered INTO the ark of safety. However, the innumerable hoards of the unconverted failed to prepare for the coming of the wrath of God. Tragically, there was absolutely no opportunity to prepare after the door of the ark was shut!
Likewise, this coming year could bring the 'lightning swift' return of the Lord Jesus Christ! You must be prepared and primed for the second coming of the Son of Man. The Bible repeatedly proclaims that the only way to prepare for His coming is to get ready beforehand. For example, if you are walking through a city park and suddenly lightning strikes out of the clear blue, there is no time to prepare for that split-second bolt. In precisely the same manner, there will be no time to prepare at the instantaneous return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, there will be no opportunity to get ready after He returns. For in an hour that you think not, the Son of Man comes. When He comes, all chance of preparedness is forever passed. This is precisely why you must give primary consideration to this question: "If the Lord Jesus Christ returned today, or in the coming new year, ARE YOU PREPARED AND PRIMED NOW! Have you entered into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you committed your life INTO Christ Jesus the Lord? Have you truly entered into a living connectivity and vital union with Him?" Dear friend, not even one more hour is guaranteed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who holds your every breath in His hands. He could split the eastern sky at any instant.
Every individual has a never-dying soul, which will survive this body's demise. Your eternal soul will spend an endless period of time in either a glorious place of blessed bliss or a condemned prison of supernatural torment. You can be absolutely assured that there are no 2nd chances after your inevitable moment of death or the soon return of Christ.
Additionally, you can also bank on the truth that there will be no annihilation of your soul's existence. Adhere to these words of warning from 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10a, "the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, WHEN HE COMES, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe." Be assured, dear reader, that if you do not cast your life on the grace and mercy of Jesus the Savior, He will crush you in eternal condemnation, as Jesus the Great White Throne Judge, for His Word and His holiness will stand firm.