devotionals

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The Short Man With A Big Heart

3rd & 4th July

Weekend Edition

“When Jesus came by, He looked up at the Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” He said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today!” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.”

Luke 19:5-6

News of Jesus’ arrival in Jericho quickly reached the ears of the eager Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus had a reputation of being a shrewd and dishonest tax collector who had gained his wealth by cheating people on their taxes. He was not a very popular man, much like every other tax collector in Jesus’ time.

When Zacchaeus heard Jesus was coming to town, he made every effort to see Jesus, but due the large crowds and his short height, his vision was blocked. However, his desperation to see Jesus soon found him climbing a sycamore tree in hope of catching a glimpse of the Son of David. As Jesus neared the tree Zacchaeus had climbed, he called out to Zacchaeus by name and invited Himself to his house. Without hesitation and much to his delight, Zacchaeus climbed down the tree and took Jesus to his home.

While they were enjoying a meal together in the home of Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus convicted by the very presence and acceptance from Jesus, repented of his wrongdoing and promised to repay the evil he had done to the people he had cheated. Jesus applauded Zacchaeus’ noble actions and said that “salvation has come to this home today.”

Jesus’ agenda on this earth was always to “seek and save the lost.” He came for people like Zacchaeus. He came to show us that even sinful tax collectors can receive His grace. Jesus broke every cultural and religious rule by inviting Himself to eat with an unclean man, yet that didn’t bother Jesus at all. He was more interested in the heart of Zacchaeus and saw in him purpose, hope and a future. After Zacchaeus had experienced such tender loving care from Jesus, His life was completely changed. He realised his sinful actions, repented and set out to live a completely different lifestyle, a lifestyle that honoured God and brought glory to His name.

We too can know we are loved and accepted by a kind and gracious God despite of our sinful nature. He also wants to know us personally and wants to have an intimate relationship with us too. Will you accept Jesus’ invite into your heart? Has your life been transformed by meeting Jesus?

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What Is Better Than God’s Presence?

2nd July

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul I will shout joyfully to the living God.”

Psalm 84:1-2

Imagine a world where believers have such desperation to meet God and to have intimate and deep relationships with Him. Imagine if believers would have such a sense of longing for the presence of God that it pained them to not be in His presence. Where Christians would shout joyfully to the Lord from the bottom of their hearts and worship Him with their whole being! Is it possible?

It can and should be possible.

We are living in an age of grace where God sent His only Son to die for us and to rise again so we can have an intimate relationship with the Creator of the world. We have the opportunity to access the presence of God wherever we are, whatever we are doing and whatever time of day. God never sleeps, is never too busy for us and is never shy. Wouldn’t it be great if we invited the tangible presence of God on the train on the way to work, while in meetings, around the dinner tables, in our schools and homes. Yet so often we wait for Sunday to come and then decide to worship Him with all our hearts. God isn’t just alive one day out of the week. He is alive everyday!

We shouldn’t just be waiting for Heaven to worship God day and night but start now. Let us include God in all we do. Let us pray that we would have such a strong desire for the presence of God in our lives that in would pain our hearts not to be in His presence. Let us join with the psalmist and worship God with our whole being. It is possible…. We just have to want it!

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Faith To Believe Without Seeing

1st July

“Then they told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But He replied, “I wont believe it unless I see the nail wounds in His hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hands into the wound in His side.””

Luke 24:30-31

For eight days Thomas, after hearing the disciples (his friends) tell him that they had seen the risen Jesus, doubted that Jesus was truly alive. Earlier in the passage we read that two of the disciples (maybe not part of the 12), were walking with Jesus and their eyes could not open to the true identity of Jesus. But they had not heard that Jesus had risen. Yet Thomas, whose own friends had told him that they had seen Jesus alive doubted.

In verse 27 Jesus again approaches the disciples with peace and then calms every doubt Thomas had about Him. In fact, Jesus responds with the very same words Thomas had used, by confirming that it was really Him, “Put your fingers here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side.” At once Thomas cried out in belief that Jesus in his Lord and God.

It can be said that we are all on a Thomas journey. We may have heard of Jesus, we may know who He is through the Bible, but may have not yet had a personal revelation of Jesus in our lives. However it takes a personal encounter with Christ to fully recognise who He is for ourselves and to understand His kind, gracious and loving character towards us. We move from doubt to fully trusting in Him.

We are even more blessed today, that we believe without seeing Jesus face to face. However, His character and attributes can so easily be seen, not only in creation but also through the kind outworking of Jesus’ character in and through the lives of believers across the world. If we say we have met the risen King, then we should be doing our best to show Him to others through the way we are living our lives! Let us move from doubt to belief and from living for ourselves to living for Christ.

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Search My Heart

30th June

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Psalm 139:23-24

A pastor once said to me that these verses are his habitual morning prayer. Not as an act of religious piety but as an act of humble submission to a Holy and Righteous God.

David, the writer of this wonderful psalm, knew very well what it was like to live under a banner of persistent guilt from his personal sin. Upon committing adultery with Bathsheba and ordering her husband to fight on the front lines of a ferocious war to cover up his sin, David was being consumed daily with the guilt of his sinful actions. He knew that his choices had led him to murder an innocent man and to commit adultery with his wife. He knew that he had dishonoured God through his actions. Yet God, in his mercy forgave David because of the Lord’s “steadfast love” and “mercies that are new each morning.”However, David first had to acknowledge his sin, repent of it and make his heart right before God.

This Psalm indicates that although we serve a gracious and kind God, there are choices we make that offend the righteousness of God. We also need to have a healthy guilt in our lives, not to condemn us of our sins (like David experienced), but rather to point out where we have made mistakes so that we can repent and enjoy the intimate communion with God that He so desires to have with us.

Let us come before God each day, searching our hearts to find out if there is anything we have not repented of. We do not need to dig deep, but rather allow the Holy Spirit to bring things to our attention that need repenting of. Then, let us confess it in faith and humility and accept God’s forgiveness, knowing that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has completely and fully paid the debt of our sins. Let this be a pray of submission and humility as we seek to live a lifestyle that leads to everlasting life.

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Hope For The Most Hardened Criminal

29th June

“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord?” And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting.””

Acts 9:3-5

The Apostle Paul, who wrote so much of the beloved New Testament writings, had a horrific past. If you read his words of love and peace, there is no way you would believe that he actually hated “The Way”. In fact, verses 1 – 2 of chapter 9, tell us that every breath Saul breathed were threatening promises to kill the Lord’s followers. He was there at Stephen’s death, giving his approval. He went from home to home in Jerusalem dragging out believers and throwing them into prison, going around destroying the churches. When he spoke, it was only words of hate. Yet Saul did not realise he was fighting against the Lord Jesus Christ by persecuting His children.

Saul, with the acceptance letters from the synagogues in Damascus in hand, headed to cause further damage by destroying the churches in Damascus and all who followed “The Way”. As he journeyed with some of his followers, a bright light from Heaven shone down and blinded Saul. However, through the confusion, Saul heard Jesus’ voice calling out to him saying, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus showed His grace to Saul, forgave him and day by day continued to reveal Himself to him. Paul then went on to be one of the founders of the early church and His words in the New Testament are a daily encouragement for believers around the world.

Even if the most hardened criminals and the most hateful people have a chance to encounter the mighty presence of God. When we look at a world filled with hate and violence, do we see people the way God sees them or do we look at them wanting revenge or justice? Saul, before his encounter with Christ, was so hateful towards the believers, imprisoning them and even killing them. Yet God had other plans for Saul. God saw in Saul, a zeal and enthusiasm to proclaim His message of love and grace. We should not be too quick to judge our enemies, but rather pray that they too may have a Damascus experience and meet Jesus the Prince of Peace.

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Hate Sin and Love Righteous Living

27th and 28th June

Weekend edition

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.”

Romans 12:9

We are surrounded by evil and sin. It can be so overwhelming sometimes. Even reading the news this morning, there is hardly any good news. In fact it makes you realise what a sinful world we live in. Murder, immorality and anger fill the daily headlines. We constantly are bombarded with bad news…with sad news. When will it change?

It will change when believers realise their responsibility to live like a ‘Romans’ Christian. When the believers in this world love, even when they don’t get love back. When they are kind, even when faced with hostility. When Jesus’ love and grace is so evident in our lives that it becomes contagious. When we stop focusing on ourselves and look to the needs of others, practically and prayerfully. When Christians rise up and do not compromise. When we say no to sin: Not just say no to sin but hate it. Hate the desire to even want to sin.

There is a reason sin is so tempting. Because it is, more often than not, pleasurable. Yet when you look at the root of sin, the only pleasure it gives is pleasure of self. Sin is selfish and only leaves us feeling empty. Let us pray that God would remove the desire to want to satisfy our fleshly cravings and we would be Spiritually minded and not carnally minded.

This world can change. Jesus’ death and resurrection proved that. The Apostles gave their lives so that the message of the cross could reach the nations. We are living proof that that message is still impacting people’s lives today. We need to have the same urgency to spread the love of Christ and the message of the cross to this desperate and needy world.

Yet all we do is in the power of Christ and not of ourselves. Let us pray that God would stir our hearts, so when we see negative news headlines, instead of being discouraged, we would join together and have an even greater desire to see Jesus’ love spread across the nations.

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Be Strong In The Lord

26th June

“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.”

Ephesian 6:10

Too often in our lives, we think that we can defeat the enemy by our own strength physical strength. The reality is that that is just not true. There is nothing we have on our own that is able to withstand the enemies divisive and shrewd tactics. Moreover, we often try to fight the enemy with our own self control or our own desires to not want to do evil, yet we are not in a physical battle. If we do then we will fail every time. Practical safe guarding and good intentions are wise but in and of itself they are not enough.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that we do not fight against physical forces but against “mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” If so then we need to guard ourselves with the right tools to withstand the enemy: His Name is Jesus Christ. It is only in the power of the resurrected King, the Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings, the sinless lamb that was slain for the sins of the world that we find victory. Those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Our commission is not be strong in ourselves but in the Lord and in His mighty power. It is only we when realise that true victory in found in Jesus and not in ourselves, that we can, in His power resist the enemy and stand firm in His goodness.

We must also equip ourselves with the armour of God so that we can resist “the enemy in the time of evil.” Notice the verse does not say, put on your own armour, but the armour of God. Let us put on the whole armour of God, stay in the presence of God and abide in the resurrection power of the Lamb of God. It is so great that we are not on our own fighting against the enemy but can rest in victory, in the presence of the Almighty, under the shadow of His wings.

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Search The Scriptures And Know The Truth

25th June

“That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there they went to the Jewish Synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”

Acts 17:10-11

Paul and Silas left Thessalonica after experiencing a riot and life threatening danger. Their message of salvation seemed to cause so much trouble that it not only put Paul and Silas’ life in danger but also other believers lives too. The gospel Paul and Silas preached was not very well accepted by the Jewish people in Greece, so after being kicked out Thessalonica, they were sent to Berea (modern day southwest Macedonia). There Paul and Silas experienced a group of Jews from Berea who met regularly met in the synagogue.

As Paul and Silas preached the message of salvation to them, they were greatly encouraged and listened intently to their message. So much so that they searched the scriptures to see if what Paul was preaching was truth or not. “As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek woman and men.” How encouraging for Paul and Silas. Not only was their message accepted but they saw a genuine desire from the Bereans to not only know the God that Paul was preaching about from Paul’s mouth but also they wanted to know Him for themselves. By searching the scriptures day and night it allowed the Holy Spirit to guide them, convict them and open their eyes to Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

We too can learn an important lesson from the Bereans. We should not just accept everything we hear from the pulpit but search the scripture to see if what is being taught is in line with God’s word and with His truth. When we too have an eagerness to hear the preaching of the word and God’s revelation through scripture, we can begin to see our lives transformed by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit and the resurrected Christ. Let God’s word come alive and be evident in our lives.

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She Gave Everything She Had

24th June

“Jesus sat down near the collection box in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. ..“I tell you the truth, this poor woman has given more than the others…. she, as poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.””

Mark 12:41-44

Jesus, upon visiting the temple, decided to sit down and watch how people gave their contributions. He noticed that many rich people came in and gave lots of money. Yet what caught His eye, was the not the large amounts given by the rich people but the two small coins given by a poor widow who had nothing else. The rich people only gave out of their surplus of wealth, yet this poor widow gave all she had.

However, what struck Jesus, wasn’t particularly what they gave financially but the condition of their hearts when they were giving. Jesus highlighted to His disciples a key area in Spiritual growth and discipleship. This poor widow demonstrated a genuine love and desire for God, by giving all she had, she completely put her trust in Jehovah Jireh (the God who provides). In Jesus’ time, a woman who had lost their husband, more often than not, lost their only source of income too. Widows would have to have been wise and astute with what they did have so it would last longer. This further demonstrates the sacrificial giving of this poor widow as she gave all she had. Furthermore, Jesus comments that this poor woman, because of her sacrificial giving, had given more than all the wealth of the others.

It is so important for our lives to know firstly that God looks after our every need, but more importantly, God is interested in our heart condition above anything else. Jesus praised this poor widow’s giving because she exercised complete trust in God. God doesn’t want part of our hearts but all of it, even when it may seem a sacrifice to give your whole heart. We can be comforted that when we put our whole trust in God, He will always look after us and bless us even more.

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Did you know… GOD MADE EVERYTHING???

23rd June

“O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.”

Psalm 104:24-25

What an encouraging thought to know that God literally made everything we see in this world. The huge mountains ranges He made, the carpet of forest trees, the sun to give light by day and moon to shade us by night, the crops that grow to feed us and give us the necessary nutrients we need for our lives and so much more. It is so amazing to see the variety of birds and animals God has made. And when you explore the world you realise that there are so many more varieties of insects and creatures that the Lord has made. Even the most clever of minds could not think of the millions of creatures than walk this earth or swim in the seas.

Yet if God made all these things and holds them in His hands, then how much does He care about us? We truly can trust Him with our lives because He is so much more greater than us. His faithfulness is great, His love is great, His peace is Great, His mercy is great.. Everything about God is great.

It is so important to acknowledge the supremity, might and power of our wonderful and creative Lord and Master. We serve a truly great God. Let us encourage ourselves that He is a great God and He is our Father and He is on our side!!