Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

1 Corinthians 16:7-9

I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

Paul mentioned that God had opened a great door for effective work for him. In this generation in which we live, God has opened a great door for effective work because He is at work all around the world. God is at work in mainland China. The house church has been revived and, according to statistics, there are tens of thousands of new believers each day. God is bringing revival to South America. In the past, the attendance at most South America churches was single-digit, but now that God's revival has come, the number of believers in the church in Argentina is approximately one to two hundred thousand. The Spirit of God is also moving upon the Muslim countries. We hear stories of how Muslims become Christians. Many of them saw Jesus in their dreams after they read the gospel, and they receive Christ as their personal Savior. This is the case in Africa as well. The renowned German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke held many large-scale evangelistic meetings there. It was recorded that the number of who receive Christ is more than three hundred million people. These figures are far more than we could have imagined. God is doing wonderful work around the world. He brought revival to North America, Canada, Florida, Pensacola and other places. We firmly believe that God wants to bring in another great harvest in the end-time generation.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people who are against the move of God. When God is doing something new, there will be a lot of resistance from the traditional forces. Let us focus on God, and be sensitive to what He is doing in this generation, so that our hearts will grow old, but will be renewed each day. In addition, there are many in this generation who are opposed to the work of God. Although the United States is a Christian nation, there are many in the government and the society who are anti-Christian, and are against the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The media is also against the spreading of Christianity. Besides these, there is also the opposition of the devil Satan. The enemy uses all kinds of false religions and the occult to confuse the hearts of people, so that they do not depend on God. You and I can only rely on prayer to face these opposition forces. Strong and powerful prayer can destroy the strongholds and take back the hearts of people, so they may return to Jesus Christ.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, we thank you, because you have truly opened a great door for effective work. Although there is much opposition, we pray Lord you will use us as vessels of prayer, to tear down all the strong holds so that your work may continue to expand around the world. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!