DAILY DEVOTIONAL – March 11, 2024 The Great Healer and Lord By Gary Wilkerson A minister friend of mine went to go visit his brother; now his brother suffers from some mental illnesses and chemical imbalances and lives in a little trailer park. My friend was knocking on the door of his trailer, and his brother opened the door and started shooting at my friend. Two of the bullets passed within inches of his head. My friend Nicky Cruz has told in his testimony how his mother would call him the son of Satan and punch him in the face, often until his eyes were swollen shut. She would lock him in a closet after that, sometimes for days. It got so bad that by the time he was 9 years old, he tried to hang himself. Now God is using Nicky to preach the gospel all over the world, but he knows what it means to grow up with great pain.   Many of us may not have ever had an experience like my friends’, but we have a history of difficulty. This is the kind of world we live in with violence, hardship, suffering, strife between family members. Some of you have had a father or mother say, “You’re worthless.” Perhaps we experience haunting pulls from addictions or feel the weight of sexual sins. There’s the broken feeling of severe loneliness. Perhaps there’s people we love deeply who are in a crisis, and there’s nothing we can really do to help lift them out of their suffering, but it hurts us to watch them walk through their pain. You and I need help. We need somebody stronger than us. We need a power outside of us. We need a savior and deliverer. We need Jesus. The Bible gives us this promise: “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:17-19, ESV). Jesus has reconciled our relationship with God. He’s the healer of our marriage and our children. He is the remedy for loneliness, for addiction and sin. He will relieve the pains of our hearts. He is the repairer of broken families. He is the restorer of lost hopes and dreams.   Read and Listen OnlineForward to a Friend

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In the Dark It is one thing to suffer through times of darkness when we bring it on ourselves through a lifestyle of sinful behaviors. In that case, we should expect arrows to come. For the upright in heart, however, endlessly suffering in the dark is troubling to the soul.  Read Now   The Parable of the Ten Virgins Several times, the gospels portray people arriving at the gates of heaven and crying out for God only to be told that he doesn’t know them. In this episode, Gary Wilkerson and Joshua West discuss these sobering passages of the Bible and how they should inform believers’ lives.   Watch Now   See God's Glory -  Show God's Glory  Glorify exists to see young adults encounter the glory of God, live for his purpose, and change their communities, nation, and world. Join us for this two-day event to hear transformative messages and powerful worship as we seek the presence of God. Register Now

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