Author: anthonyachilleos

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All That We Need

25th October

“Give us today the food we need..YOUR Heavenly Father already know all your needs.”

MATTHEW 6:11, 32b

Today’s devotion is simple. We all have needs, wants and desires. Yet instead of letting those things consume our thoughts and cause us to worry, how about just relaxing in the provision of Almighty God, our Heavenly Father. Firstly, God knows all we need before we even ask, and secondly, what He gives, is from His unlimited storehouses. Whether that be grace, love, finances, or food, every good gift comes from Him and is freely available to all His children if we just ask. Even Jesus Himself, in His model prayer, tells us to freely and boldly ask for all we need. He is not hiding His provision but wants to freely give to all those who ask. Don’t be afraid, don’t be shy, ask God in Jesus’ Name and He will provide all your needs. It is weakness to ask, but strength to trust.

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Guard Your Hearts

24th October

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

PROVERBS 4:23 (NIV)

In Biblical times, the heart was considered the hub of our lives; Decisions, emotions and being. After Greek Dualistic ways of thinking were introduced, we now separate our hearts and minds as two different things. Our hearts for emotions and minds for thinking, acting and contemplating. Yet according to the writer of today’s key verse, all that we do, the very core of our lives, flows from our hearts. When we ignore our heart’s voice, as mere emotion, we ignore the very core of who we are. Our hearts are not just, physically speaking, pumping blood around our bodies. Our heart is the center of our lives.

If the above is correct, then why do we give our hearts out so cheaply, make rash decisions, leave it open and don’t protect the one thing we should guard above all else? Guarding our hearts, isn’t simply just inviting Christ to live in it and that’s it. It is a daily discipline of surrendering, and asking God to protect it. It is like your house. You might care about what’s inside, but if you don’t lock the door, you are open and vulnerable to a burglary or so much worse. You need to shut and lock the door, so no unwanted person can enter. The same is with our hearts. Although Christ lives in it, we still need to put disciplines in our lives to make sure, He is the sole resident and ruler of it.

When we do this, Christ’s peace will fill us, and this peace ‘will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus1’. Our daily surrendering to Jesus, will protect our hearts from the storms around us, keep us safe from the distractions that want to enter it and fill us with Heavenly peace, blessing and direction.

1Philippians 4:7

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The Growing Kingdom Of Jesus

23rd October

“Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she only put a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”

MATTHEW 13:33

What is the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, as one preacher says, ‘the Kingdom of Heaven is everywhere and in anyone, where Jesus is recognised as King, He rules and is allowed to reign, that is to abide in sovereign authority.”1 This means that the Kingdom of God, is not confined to a church building and its four walls, or in another strategic place, it is in all of us and everywhere. There is no end to His Kingdom, it cannot be stopped and we are part of it.

Jesus, in His parable of the yeast, highlights the point, that His Kingdom is a Kingdom that just keeps growing. When He said this, perhaps the disciples didn’t realise the significance or the role that they would play in His Kingdom, too occupied with thinking that finally the Kingdom of Israel would be restored from the hands of the Romans. But Jesus was talking about a Kingdom that would out last both the Romans and Israel. He was talking about the Kingdom of Salvation, the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus used yeast to show the disciples, just how much influence His Kingdom can have. Just a little bit of God’s Kingdom can change societies, countries and even this world. We have this yeast in our lives. We have God’s Kingdom living in us and it is spreading. Our communities and workplaces are the perfect temperatures and environments for the yeast to ferment and grow. The harvest is ready. Surrender all of our lives to Him so that firstly His Kingdom can grow in us, and then spread out to all around us. His Kingdom is growing and we are part of it. Isn’t that GOOD NEWS?!

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Today’s Worries: Re-Visited

20th October

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Matthew 6:34

Jesus, in His wonderful ‘Sermon On The Mount’, shared a lot of key gems to help shape the disciples spiritual lives. The ‘Sermon On The Mount’ also encourages, provokes and challenges believers worldwide to this day and most assuredly, in many more years to come. Jesus’ simple teachings are straight to the point and highlight our need for Him in all we do, in our everyday lives. Perhaps the simplicity and directness of Jesus’ teachings is why they are so popular and often used in sermons worldwide.

One of the gems found in this sermon, is today’s key verse. Jesus highlights to His disciples, the need for trust in Him, for all their provision, and to not worry. He encourages the disciples to not worry about anything. We too are encouraged to not worry about tomorrow’s problems. However, why is that? Is it because our lives our completely in Jesus’ hands, so therefore we don’t need to worry about anything? Well, yes, for sure. Jesus is our burden carrier, our provider and our hope. But on an even simpler level, which Jesus highlights too, is that “today’s trouble is enough for today”. In other words, why further burden yourselves with things that are out of your control tomorrow, and with things you haven’t even reached to yet. It is almost like Jesus is saying, ‘yes tomorrow may have many worries, but take each day at a time. Give your burdens daily to Me and let’s work through them day by day’.

Isn’t that a refreshing perspective. If we look at today’s worries and tomorrow’s worries, of course our stress levels will rise, and our Godly perspective on them will start to become blurry. Yet if we take one day at a time, each day giving that day’s worries and troubles to Jesus, don’t our worries become less stressful?! Moreover, when we give our daily worries and struggles to Jesus, the load becomes manageable as we invite Jesus into all we are doing, giving Him our daily worries and stresses for that day.

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Rejoice .. In The Lord

19th October

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!”

PHILIPPIANS 4:4

When people read this verse, it can often be confused with a notion that we should, as Christians, walk around constantly with a smile on our face, even when faced with sad news, tough situations, and gloomy circumstances. Although in Heaven, one day there will be an end to suffering, pain and sadness, that day is not yet. The reality is, we still live in a fallen world. Yet God has redeemed US. He has poured out Heaven over and in us. This means that we can have joy in tough and gloomy circumstances. It does mean that we don’t have to surrender to depression and sadness but can have joy.

What Paul was saying here, was that even in situations beyond our control, situations that can lead to sadness and sorrow, we still can have joy and peace, not in the situation, but in knowing that God is in control. It is not wrong to mourn or to be sad. Jesus too had times of sadness when He walked the earth. Can you imagine the sadness and sorrow He must have felt being crucified by the people He created. Yet the Bible tells us that it was His joy to suffer and endure the cross for us. This is not the Bible contradicting itself but rather, in our hearts, we can have joy, just like Jesus did, knowing that God is working, even in the midst of a storm, and knowing His ways our higher than what we can see in the physical. Let your trust in Jesus, be the anchor in the storm. Let your hope in Him, be your joy in pain and sadness.

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God Has A Plan For You

18th October

“Make the most every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”

EPHESIANS 5:16-17

God has a plan for everyone’s life. He created you and saved you for a reason. You were not saved just to be a number in God’s Kingdom. You are more than just a number. God equipped you with gifts and tools to be able to live out His plan in your life and to bring Him glory through your life. Yet in order to fully understand who God has made us to be, we need to live by the Spirit’s leading and not our own. We have an opportunity everyday, despite of the world around us, to live fully in what God has for our lives. Whether that be at home, school, work and elsewhere. Everyday let us come before Him, and invite His presence in our lives, to lead and guide us and to understand clearly what He wants from us this day. Start your day in Him, be lead by Him and see Him work through you.

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Submit To One-another

17th October

“And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

EPHESIANS 5:21

Submission is a term that can conjure negative feelings. Yet in a Biblical context, and more so in this passage, submission is not a sign of weakness or negativity but an act of humility and strength. When you submit to someone else, you are empowering them to be who God made them to be. You are releasing people in their gifts and bringing God the glory. The same applies in marriage, the context of which this passage was originally written for. Submission in marriage is not one way. It is mutual.

Paul alludes to the relationship between us (God’s church) and Christ. He tells us that just as Christ loved us, so we should love each other. Just as Christ laid down His life sacrificially for our sakes, so we should do the same with each other. Christ gave us the perfect example of ultimate humility, sacrifice and submission. He put our needs before His own life, and freely gave it up for us. If we believe this, then we should have no hesitation to freely lay down our lives, not only for our spouse but for all.

When Jesus laid down His life for us, He elevated us to become children of God, no longer slaves to the enemy, sin and temptation. He empowered us to live in His original plan for our lives and in turn, glorified Himself through us. See how powerful submission and humility are?! Both ends of the deal, end up with God getting the glory! Our natural desires of glorifying ourselves are quashed as we start to live in Gods desires for our lives.

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Everything He does Is Wonderful

16th October

“A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to Him, and the people begged Jesus to lay His hand on the man to heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on His own fingers, He touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!”

Mark 7:32-35

Reading this passage, one might ask the question why didn’t Jesus just say ‘be healed’ like He had done so many times before. Instead, unusually, Jesus put His hands in the ears of the deaf man, spat on His own fingers and touched the man’s tongue to heal him. It may seem strange to us and unorthodox, but the end result was that the deaf man could hear and speak freely. Even the crowds were completely amazed and said, “everything He does is wonderful..”

Quite often too, in our own lives, the answers to our prayers might not always come in the way we expect. We must remember that we can’t limit an infinite God to our small finite minds. What we can be sure of is that God knows what we need before we even ask it and is working for our good and His glory. He does answer our prayers and He is a good God. Let us take confidence that ‘everything He does is wonderful’, even when it is the unexpected. God is in control.

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When You Pray, Do You Believe?

14th & 15th October

Weekend Edition

““I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in My name, and I will do it. Yes, ask me for anything in My name, and I will do it!””

John 14:12-14

Perhaps today’s key verse needs reading again! Did you get it? Did it sink into your hearts? Jesus clearly says, that we can ask for anything in His name, and He will do it. We have access to the power of the name of Jesus Christ: the name that has been exalted above every other name in all of existence, both past, present and future. Moreover, Jesus promised that the disciples (we are included in this promise too), will do even greater works than Jesus did! How is this possible? Well simply, because we can witness the greatest miracle of all, salvation through Jesus Himself. It is greater than seeing the dead rise, greater than seeing broken limbs healed, and even greater than seeing body parts regrow. Yet all these things too are possible with God, because Jesus said it. Because Jesus lives, because He resurrected from the dead, because He now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, we are empowered and equipped with the authority of Jesus’ name. When you pray in His name, believe for the answers, trust for the miracles and watch the power of God in action!

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I Stretched Out My Frail Arm And You Took Hold Of It

13th October

“The Lord will not reject His people; He will not abandon His special possession…. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but Your unfailing love, O Lord supported me. When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.”

PSALM 94:14, 18-19

For some, Friday the 13th is an unlucky day, yet if you are reading this devotional today, it might just be your lucky day! We have good news for you. You are God’s special possession and He promised to never leave you. Even when it feels like you are slipping, falling and even drifting away, know this, that the Lord God is still supporting you, cheering you on with His unfailing love. When you doubt God’s goodness, when you doubt God is with you, when you are surrounded by situations that feel overwhelming, look back to this verse and live in God’s promises for you.

Honesty should be at the forefront of our relationship. Just as the writer of this Psalm so openly shared his struggles with God, so should we. We shouldn’t think that having an off day is a weakness but rather know that His strength is made perfect through our weakness. There is nothing wrong with crying out to God, telling Him exactly how you are feeling. He wants to help us and He will help us. It is His help and comfort that gives us ‘renewed hope and cheer’. Stretch out your hand and trust that God will pull you up!