The “I Will” of God

“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zechariah 2:4–5)

There are mornings when I wake up feeling fragile. Vulnerable. It’s often vague. No single threat. No one weakness. Just an amorphous sense that something is going to go wrong and I will be responsible.

It’s usually after a lot of criticism. Or maybe after a lot of expectations that have deadlines, and that seem too big and too many.

As I look back over about 50 years of such periodic mornings, I am amazed how the Lord Jesus has preserved my life. And my ministry. The temptation to run away from the stress has never won out — not yet anyway. This is amazing. I worship my great God for this.

Instead of letting me sink into a paralysis of fear, or run to a mirage of greener grass, he has awakened a cry for help and then answered with concrete promises.

Here’s an example. This is recent. I woke up feeling emotionally fragile. Weak. Vulnerable. I prayed: “Lord, help me. I’m not even sure how to pray.”

An hour later I was reading in Zechariah, seeking the help I had cried out for. It came.

“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zechariah 2:4–5)

There will be such prosperity and growth for the people of God that Jerusalem will not be able to be walled in any more. “The multitude of people and livestock” will be so many that Jerusalem will be like many villages spreading out across the land without walls.

Prosperity is nice, but what about protection?

To which God says in verse 5, “I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord.” Yes. That’s it. That is the promise. The “I will” of God. That is what I need.

And if it is true for the vulnerable villages of Jerusalem, it is true for me a child of God. That is how I apply the Old Testament promises to God’s people. All the promises are yes to me in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). There is a “how much more” after every promise for those who are in Christ. God will be a “wall of fire all around” me. Yes. He will. He has been. And he will be.

And it gets better. Inside that fiery wall of protection he says, “And I will be the glory in her midst.” God is never content to give us the protection of his fire; he aims to give us the pleasure of his presence. I love the “I wills” of God!

John Piper 

The Conscious Presence of God

 

“Then he said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.’” EXODUS 33:15

 

PONDER THIS

Moses was speaking to the Lord and said, “Lord, I’m not going without You. If You don’t go, I’m not going.” I think many of us would have settled for what God said to Moses initially. Many of us would say, “I’ve got eternal life. You promised me Heaven. I’ve got Heaven. You promised You would see me through. You’re going to see me through. Thank You for eternal security, Lord.” And that’s what you settle for. You would forgo the presence of God. I want to beg you not to do it. You know what that’s like? That’s like a husband and wife who remain married but separate, and one provides for the other. They say, “All right. I’ll pay your rent, I’ll buy your groceries, I’ll cut the grass, but we’re not going to live together.” Do you want that kind of a relationship with God? Do you want what God gives without having God Himself?

I want to be a growing Christian. I don’t think I have arrived. I’m not there yet. I want us to determine to be a people who say, “We want the conscious presence of God in our lives and in our church.”

What are some ways you have settled in your faith? What are some ways you are craving more?

How can you seek to know God more intimately? Who is someone you know who is always seeking to know God more intimately?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk with someone you know who is striving to know God more intimately and ask that person for prayer and support as you seek the same.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Presence is All We Need

PRAY OVER THIS

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “To your descendants I will give it.” And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.’” Exodus 33:1-3

 

PONDER THIS

Do not settle for protection; do not settle for provision; do not settle for a promised land without the presence of God. When you have the presence of God, you need nothing more, but you should settle for nothing less.

There are many today who are saying, “I have salvation. I have eternal security. I’m not walking in joy. I’m not walking in victory. God is not real to me. But I honestly expect to go to Heaven.” And when the pastor asks how many of you know if you were to die today, you’d go to Heaven, you lift your hand. But if you would be honest with me, you would say, “Pastor, God is not real in my life. I do not have the manifest presence of God in my life. I have His protection, I have His provision, I have His promise, but I do not have that presence of God in my life.”

That is faulty logic. Don’t think just because you have provision and protection you’re right with God. I remind you that even a nonbeliever has certain provisions: food and air and clothes and houses. And you know, we can be so preoccupied with getting that provision and that protection and claiming that promise that we fail to have His presence.

Is God real in your life right now? Why or why not?

When has God’s presence been real to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask another Christian to share with you how to press into God’s presence every day.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Need God’s Presence

PRAY OVER THIS

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

 

PONDER THIS

When Joyce and I lost our son, we left to be with family while we were grieving. When Joyce and I were leaving our church parsonage close by the church we served at, I could see the yellow light as it was streaming out of the open windows of the church, and the congregation was singing “No, never alone. No, never alone. He hath promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. I’ve seen the lightning flashing, I’ve heard the thunder roll, I’ve felt sin’s breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus, telling me still to fight on, for He’s promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.”

I would not take anything for the conscious presence of God. And this little phrase that speaks about Joseph’s life: “The Lord was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2). In prison, God was with him; in the pit, God was with him; in slander, God was with him; in business, God was with him; in pain, God was with him; in prosperity, God was with him. He’s dying, God was with him. God is in Christ, and if you want God with you in good times and hard, you need Jesus.

When have you needed God’s presence in a hard time?

Who do you know that needs to be reminded that God is with them today?

PRACTICE THIS

Check in on somebody who is going through a hard time. If this person has a relationship with Jesus, remind him or her of God’s presence through hard times.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers