daily bible verse

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The Honesty of Talking With God

9th August

“Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, travelling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

1 Kings 19:3-4

What does prayer look like for you? Do you even know what to say to God? Well you are not on your own. The greats of the Bible also have struggled for what to say during their prayers. Yet what God desires from us in our prayers, is honesty and a true heart. He doesn’t need to hear eloquent rehearsed prayers or superficial words of praise. No, God wants to hear what is on our hearts. He is our Father, Friend and King. Jesus often rebuked the Pharisees for their long, false and dishonest prayers. “God loves us to talk with Him. He can cope with our temper, frustrations…everything we throw at Him. That is why He is such an amazing God!”1 God wants a relationship with us. That is why He sent Jesus.

Sometimes, as is it says in Romans, we don’t even know ‘what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words’ (Romans 8:26). God hears our hearts when we pray, not just our words. He knows what we are going through. He knows when we need His comfort. When Elijah was threatened with death by the evil king Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, he fled out of fear, even though he had just witnessed two huge miracles through his faith. He wanted to die; and he told God that. Yet God in His grace comforted Elijah, gave him divine rest and food and empowered him to carry on with his commission.

God too wants to hear your heart, to hear your words and even to hear your cries when you have no words. He is gracious and kind and always welcomes His children into His presence. Talk to God from your hearts.

1Carolyn De Souza, in reply to Monday’s Devotion

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The Power Of Communicating With God

8th August

“…the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.”

James 5:16b-18

Communicating with God is never one way. So often, we get caught up pouring our hearts out to God, but never allow Him to speak to us. In fact, when was the last time you sat patiently waiting for God to speak to you, be that audibly, in your thoughts or through His Word? In truth, life is busy. We are consumed with work, school, studies, family commitments and meeting friends. Yet, the most important part of our day is taking time out to hear what God is saying. One such man was the Old Testament prophet Elijah.

We often view Elijah as some super hero man with an amazing ability to hear from God, and yes it’s true he was a great man. Yet Elijah, as James says, was just a normal man like we are. Yet he made it his life’s work to listen to God and let God’s instruction lead his life. We too have that prophetic ability to hear God’s voice, and let it influence and dictate our lives. We have the ability to speak out what God is saying to us, through our lifestyles and through our words. So the challenge today is this… speak to God and listen to His response.

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God’s Perfect Love Through Us

5th – 7th August

Weekend Edition

“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us.”

1 John 4:11-12

How does the world see God’s love? How does the world know God? Answer: through us. As John says, if God lives in us, then His love in shown through our lifestyles and He is made known. His love is brought to full expression in and through us. Yet the expression of God’s love through us is based on the knowledge and action of God loving us and us loving each other. When we love each other with the same love God has loved us with, we express His character, His heart and His love for others.

We are His creation. His children. His bride. We are loved. We are valued. We are precious. His love for us, helps us to express who He is. God is made known through us loving others. God is made known through our love for each other. When we love each other, it is God’s perfection. Be blessed. Accept you are loved and love others with His love.

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Our Refuge

4th August

“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety (fortress); He is my God and I trust Him.”

Psalm 91:2

Isn’t it such a comfort to know our hope and trust is in Almighty God. The Psalmist knew that his hope and refuge was in God alone. He knew that God was his place of refuge, his safety and his fortress. He knew that no matter what circumstance he faced, both big and small, he could find peace and security. We too as children of God, can take the same comfort knowing that Jesus is in control of our lives; That no matter what evil or hardship we face, Jesus in our refuge, our fortress and our safety and will deliver us from the snare of the fowler.

Yet more than just knowing is the declaration of that fact. Will you join the Psalmist this morning and declare that the Lord alone is your refuge and strength. Will you boldly declare that He is Lord over your life.

Lord, I declare that my hope and trust is in You. I declare that You are my fortress. I declare that You are my hope and refuge. Lord You are my safety. In You alone is my my salvation.

Amen

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Not Worthy But Not Worthless

3rd August

“But the father turned to his servants and said, “Quick! Bring the best robe we have and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.”

Luke 15:22

Who are you? What is your identity? Do you identify with being a sinner or is your identity renewed and restored? So often, and sadly so, many Christians mis-understand the depth and truth of grace. Instead of acknowledging the truth that they are free, children of God, they slowly fall back into the hole of condemnation and believe the lie that they are sinners, not worthy to enter into God’s presence. Yet that is completely not the truth. If we have confessed our sins, if we have been forgiven and joined into God’s Kingdom, then our identity is no longer as a sinner but as a child of God.

Let’s think about the story of the prodigal son. The father let the son squander his inheritance, dine with pigs and live a wreck-less lifestyle. Yet when the son confessed (even though he actually didn’t finish his repentance confession; such is the extent of grace), the father completely welcomed the son back into his family, making no mention of the past and adorned him with clothes, sandals and a ring to emphasise the sons forgiven and restored status.

Friends that is our status too. The Father no longer makes mention of our wreck-less past, He no longer remembers our sins, because we are forgiven. We have been given a new status. Yes we still sin, but we are not sinners. Yes we are not worthy, but we are not worthless!! We are forgiven sons and daughters, welcomed into God’s family.

 

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God’s Grace In Afflication

2nd August

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”

Psalm 119:71

We have grown used to unboxing new digital appliances and using the “trial and error” method to discover how they work. Most of these tools and toys don’t even come with instruction booklets, opting instead for built-in “Help” menus. When we do eventually read the directions, we usually wish we had done so sooner.

Trials can drive us closer to God’s “instructions.” The psalmist learned that lesson, saying it was good to go through trials in order to learn more of God’s ways (Psalm 119:67, 71, 92). Throughout Scripture the same message is repeated: Trials build godly character (James 1:2-4), drive us to call on God for wisdom (James 1:5), build our faith (James 1:6), and give us the opportunity to display the character of Christ (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). For those reasons and more, we should “count it all joy when [we] fall into various trials” (James 1:2). But only if we want to discover more of God’s Word, will, and ways, and be conformed more to Christ’s image (Romans 8:28-29).

Don’t try to figure life’s trials out on your own. Read and follow life’s biblical instructions. You’ll be glad you did.1

None of us can come to the highest maturity without enduring the summer heat of trials.

Charles H. Spurgeon

 

1Taken from David Jeremiah’s Turning Point, Daily Devotionals

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God’s Grace In Salvation

1st August

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promises, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.”

2 Peter 3:9

God is so gracious. He is patiently waiting until the opportune time to once again come back to this earth and reign forever; to set up His Kingdom here on earth to rule for eternity. Yet until that time, He is pouring His grace out to all mankind so that people may have an opportunity to encounter the resurrected King Jesus. God wants all men to be saved. He wants none to perish. That is why He has not yet come. He wants everyone to have an opportunity to repent and turn back to Him. Yet once we have accepted our wrongs and repented of our sins, we have a responsibility to also share that same good news of Christ’s love, acceptance and forgiveness to others, so that they too may be saved. God is patient for our sakes. He will return one day, so let us get our relationship with Jesus right, so that we can wait in anticipation of His coming and not in fear of His judgement.

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Our Confident Hope: Re-Visited

30th & 31st July

Weekend Edition

“Therefore, since we have been right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has bought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

Romans 5:1-2

God’s love and grace is amazing. Once enemies, we are now children of God. Once sinners, we are now saved. We have been given the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. And it is not because of what we have done, as if it was something that could be earned. It simply was and is a gift. A daily gift that you can have as much of as you want. Jesus’ love is limitless. We have been brought with such a high price that we now are seated in the very presence of God, in Heavenly places. Moreover, we are so blessed that God gives us the faith to receive and believe it. We are in Christ and He is in us. We stand in a place of undeserved privilege, yet can share in the blessings of His grace and glory as true children of God.

We now can confidently and joyfully look forward to Jesus’ return and to living eternally in future glory with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet while we are on this earth, we bear the responsibility of being His representative, spreading the grace and love of God, our Heavenly Father.

Wherever you are at today, know that God has so much love for you. No matter where you are, what you have done, God’s grace is a real today as it was when we He bled on the cross for our sins. It is because we have been brought with such a high price that we can boldly and confidently share in His love, accept His grace and abide in His presence.

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Praying In The Armour Of God: Day 7

29th July

“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armour so you will be able to resist the enemy in time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

Ephesians 6:13

Friends, as we reach our last day, let this not be a week long thing only, but rather make it part of your everyday prayer life, so that after you are wearing all of God’s armour, you will still be standing strong against the enemy. Pray in the Spirit at all times, asking God to give you the words to pray. Pray for yourself. Pray for others. And pray for all believers everywhere.

“..and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.…..”

Lord, I pray that You would remind me of the promises in Your word. Help me to speak them out with my mouth. Help me to live them out in my life. Let Your word come quickly to mind when I am in need of victory. I pray that Your word will purge out the lies and filth that the enemy tempts me with. I pray that when I read Your word, I will remember all that I read, meditate on it and let it fill my very being with truth. May Your word be my lamp and light. May I live by Your word and the promises found in them. Lead me, guide me and teach me. In Your Name Jesus.

Amen

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Praying In The Armour Of God: Day 6

28th July

“Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:11-12

What is really going on behind the scenes..? Friends, we are in a spiritual battle. Yet just as Paul said, often our enemy does not come in the form of flesh and blood, but is found in the unseen spiritual world. Yet we are not left as helpless sheep against our wolf-like enemy. We are fully protected by the blood of Jesus and have been equipped with the tools and armoury to withstand the enemy’s strategies. For the next week we will be structuring our devotionals as prayers so that we can guard ourselves against the enemy and his divisive tactics. As you pray the armour of God over your lives, we pray that you will begin to find victory in Him. That fear is swept away and the truth of who you are in Christ we lead you forwards…..

“Put on salvation as your helmet.…..”

Lord, I pray that I will stand firm and secure in my salvation. I pray that my mind will be guarded from evil thoughts. Thoughts to harm me and not to prosper me, which is contrary to what You want for me, will not enter my mind. I pray that You will help me fix my thoughts on eternal things, not on natural things which are carnal. I pray that You will fill my mind with Your thoughts and Your plans for me. Help me to discern what is carnal thinking and deal it with accordingly. Let me rest in my salvation. Amen