modern devotionals

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Salvation:

The ImPossible Miracle

5th October

“Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.””

Matthew 19:26

If you were asked, ‘what is the greatest miracle of all’, what would you say? Jesus’ calming of the storm, being raised from the dead, the Red Sea parting or perhaps a breakthrough in your own life? Yet the biggest miracle of all, one which the angels of Heaven rejoice in1, is the miracle of salvation; when a person is saved from their sins, confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Why? Because this is God’s work alone.

Jesus, in Matthew 19, is approached by a very rich man who asks what is needed to gain eternal life. Jesus begins to list some of the 10 commandments to the rich man to which his reply was, ‘I’ve obeyed all these commandments…. what else must I do?’ Jesus then said to to the rich man, ‘go and sell all your possessions and then follow Me’. The man left very despondent as he had many possessions and this teaching was hard to accept. See what Jesus was really saying, is not you have to obey this law and this law to get to Heaven. He was implying that salvation is a heart issue not a ‘works’ issue. The man clearly had his priorities in the wrong place. His assurance, his security and his ‘guarantee’ was not in God’s grace but in his wealth and in his ‘good works’.

Jesus clearly says that, actually, salvation is not something we can achieve by buying or earning our way into Heaven. It is a gift of God. Jesus adds that ‘it is impossible’ to even try to get into Heaven by doing good. The only way, is to surrender our hearts to Him; to make Him number One priority in our life and to accept His free gift of grace and mercy. With man gaining salvation is impossible but with God, everything is possible!!

1In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents. Luke 15:10

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Jesus, The Miracle Worker

4th October

“Then the leading priests and the Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This Man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow Him to go on like this this, soon everyone will believe in Him….””

John 11:47-48a

Did you know that the Pharisees knew that Jesus was a miracle worker? Just read today’s verse as one of the pieces of evidence that prove that statement. Jesus was no ordinary man, and they knew that. A few verses earlier we learn that Jesus miraculously raised Lazarus from the dead, showing His power over death and sin. Yet instead of rejoicing in such a wonderful miracle, the Pharisees plotted to have Jesus killed because they feared that if everyone started to believe in who Jesus said He was, the Roman army would feel threatened and would need to take action by overthrowing the nation of Israel. Yet what is particularly interesting is the Pharisees own confession that Jesus did perform miracles and that His miracles led people to a belief in Him as the Son of God.

Jesus’ miracles today have the same power. Firstly, they prove who Jesus said He was and is and secondly, they lead people to Him. The question or challenge we need to ask ourselves is the same question the Pharisees asked each other, “What are we going to do?” Do we join the bandwagon of doubters and proclaim that miracles are just coincidences or do we confess that indeed “This Man”, this Jesus we serve, does perform miracles and is who He says He is?!!

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Miracles: God, The Coordinator Of Incidences

3rd October

“You are the God of great wonders! You demonstrate You awesome power among the nations.”

Psalm 77:14

We worship the God of miracles. God is alive and is as active today as He was in the Old Testament and even before the world began. His wonders or miracles, are evidence of His existence; And because He exists and is actively at work in our world, we can put our trust in Him with our lives and problems too. Many brush off God’s miracles as co-incidences or chance, but as Andrew Ollerton put it in the ‘Why Believe’ series, miracles are not chance or co-incidences at all. “You can put that (miracles) down to co-incidences, but the funny thing is, the more we pray, the more ‘incidences’ happen.”1 He claims that things don’t just happen but are orchestrated by God, as if to say, God, is the coordinator of incidences.

Just as the Psalmist beautiful reminds his readers, so we too need reminding of how great, how big and how miraculous our God is. When we are going through tough times, when there is un-certainty about the future, when we don’t know how we are going to get out of the situation we are in, lets join with the Psalmist and declare, “You are the God of great wonders”. Let us have the attitude that says ‘my problems may be big but ‘i re-call all You have done, O Lord; I remember all Your wonderful deeds of long ago.’ I remember that You are the God of miracles, and You orchestrate all things to work together for the good of all who are called to You….!

1‘Why Believe’ series, Kingsgate Community Church

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Intercession For Our Leaders

1st & 2nd October

Weekend Edition

“Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by Godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.”

1 Timothy 2:2-4

What a great privilege we have to be able to influence the future of our younger generations by interceding for our leaders. Imagine if our current world leaders had a revelation of who Jesus is, because the Christian’s worldwide were interceding for them. Imagine what change would come into our world. Imagine what the future would be like. Furthermore, praying for our leaders, ushers in a spiritual dome of peace over the world we live in. Imagine a world that is peaceful; where there is no war, no starvation, no suffering, and no fighting. Yes this probably is a picture of Heaven, but didn’t Jesus Himself say that we should pray ‘for His Kingdom to come and will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven’?

Paul specifically encourages Timothy by saying that God ‘wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.’ We can participate in this too by interceding for those who have authority and influence over us. We can pray that Jesus would reveal Himself to our leaders. That He would save them. That He would give them Godliness to rule with dignity and peace. Is it too much to pray that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un would come to know Jesus? Is it too much that Putin, Obama, Merkel, Abe and other political leaders would find salvation? No it is not. God wants all men to be saved. Let’s start today, interceding and praying on their behalf. If we don’t pray for them, who will?

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Intercession

30th September

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.”

1 Timothy 2:1

Intercession is at the core of God’s heart. Jesus did it for us when He was physically alive on the earth and continues to interceded for us at the right hand of the Father as our Great Intercessor, making petition’s on our behalf, because of His sacrifice. Paul did it for the churches he planted. And we as believers are also challenged here in today’s verse to do the same. So what is intercession?

The historical and political meaning of intercession, according to the Cambridge dictionary, is to make a plead, on someone else’s behalf, to someone of higher authority, so that the person you are interceding for, may be forgiven or saved from punishment. Sound familiar? That is exactly what intercession is. It is pleading to God on behalf of someone, for their healing, spiritually or physically. It is coming to God with whatever burden you feel that the Holy Spirit is revealing to you, to pray for that person. It is standing in the gap for someone when you know they have no strength to pray. It standing alongside someone for their dreams and aspirations, standing in agreement with them. It is asking God for people’s salvation, so that His Kingdom may come on this earth. It is inviting God’s grace and mercy into people’s hearts and situations. It is thanking God for people’s lives.

Prayer is a powerful tool in the armoury of a believer. Intercession is part of that and is strategic in implementing God’s will and His Kingdom here on this earth.

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Love Is Not Just An Emotion BUT An Action

29th September

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not Jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

The entire ‘theory’ of love can be summed up in one word: Jesus. His life, His death and everything before and after, was and is the perfect example of who and what love is. He cared for the broken, looked out for the persecuted, fought against injustice and died a sacrificial life. Jesus never gave up, He endured through the most painful and excruciating death because of His love for us. He never keeps a record of wrong for those who ask for forgiveness. He washes us clean and after that it’s forgotten. He was never proud or rude in a sinful way because everything He did was out of love for His Father and for us. He was kind to all He met, patient with His disciples and always full of faith. He was and is the complete summary of what love is.

That is our role model, that is how we should live love in our lives. Love isn’t just a nice feeling in your body. Love is action. It is interesting that Paul writes more about what love is ‘not like’ as if to say, ‘here is what love is not like, go and live what it should be like’! Love is the essence of our faith. Go and action love.

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The Message Of Christ: Revisited

28th September

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”

Colossians 3:16

‘Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives’…. Well what is the message of Christ? What is the message of the cross? Simply put, it is about love. It is about a loving, Almighty God, sacrificing His own Son so that He can restore the severed relationship between God and mankind. It is about grace. It is about acceptance. It is about identity and purpose. The fullness and richness of the Gospel is not just Good News, it is the Good News that changes lives.

You have been accepted to stand before the Holy throne of God because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. You have been filled with the grace of God who saw it fit to empty Himself for you and lay down His life in your place. His grace now accepts you no matter what you have done or what you will do. Our confession and His forgiveness is integral in that acceptance. Your identity is now not as a ‘sinner’ (although we still sin that is not who we are), our identity is now as a son or daughter of God, a royal priesthood, a chosen people and a loved bride waiting for our King to return.

Friends, the richness and fullness of the message of Christ is ‘life transforming’. That is why we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts. Let us continue to encourage each other with the fullness of His message and teach and counsel others too.

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Believe. . . ! Doubt Your Doubts!

27th September

““Peace be with you,” He said. Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand into the wound in My side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!””

John 20:26c-27

Thomas was one of the only disciples that didn’t believe Jesus had physically risen from the dead, even though he had been told that Jesus had revealed Himself to the other disciples, on the same day of His resurrection. John tells us that 8 days later, as the disciples where gathered together, Jesus showed up in their midst. Guess who was there this time?! Yes, Thomas.

One of the most amazing points of this story, if not the pinnacle of this story, is the way that Jesus revealed Himself to Thomas. Earlier Thomas had said to the other disciples that he wouldn’t believe Jesus had resurrected unless he saw the ‘nail wounds in His (Jesus’) hands’, put his ‘fingers into them’ and put his hands into ‘the wound in His (Jesus’) side’. When Jesus saw Thomas, guess what He did to prove His bodily resurrection to Thomas. He graciously let Thomas see His hands, put his fingers into them and touch the wound in His side. It was exactly the kind of evidence Thomas needed. As a result Thomas did believe. So much so, that according to some Christian historical records, Thomas was the first man to take the Good News to India.

What does this mean for us? If Jesus saw it fit to calm Thomas’ doubts by showing Him exactly what he wanted to see, then shouldn’t that be of significance to us too. When we pray for people to come to know Christ, why not pray that Jesus would reveal Himself to them in exactly the way that they need, to no longer doubt but believe! Jesus could have performed a miracle, could have spoke a prophetic word or done so much more to prove Himself to Thomas. Yet He didn’t because He chose to reveal Himself to Thomas in exactly the way he needed.

Lord, I pray that You would reveal Yourself to . . . . . . ., and show them exactly what they need to be rid of their doubts and believe in You. Just as you did with Thomas, meet them where they are at, with what they need to believe in You.. IN JESUS’ NAME. Amen

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Do With All Thy Might

26th September

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

Thank God that because of Jesus, we don’t have to ‘work hard’ to get or gain our salvation. It is a free gift, freely available for those who believe and receive it. It is a belief and acceptance that Jesus died, paid for your sins and rose again to make you whole again. Yet believing, accepting and receiving your salvation is just the beginning of your ‘born again’ life. There is so much more to discover about who God made you to be, about who God is and His plans for your life and for the world you live in.

Paul, in today’s key verse was priming the Corinthian church for life after his departure and giving them spiritual guidelines to live a full life in Christ. His last words in chapter 15, are words of encouragement, not just to the Corinthian church but also to us, to give God your all in all you do. Why do we this? Is it to make God love us more? No way!! There is nothing we can do that changes God’s unconditional love towards us. Working enthusiastically for the Lord means that you work to implement God’s will, firstly in your own life, but then in the spheres of influence God has put you in. It means sowing the seeds of the gospel enthusiastically, living Godly lives enthusiastically to bring glory to Him, encouraging enthusiastically, loving enthusiastically, and being Jesus enthusiastically! As Paul says, know this, nothing you ever do ‘for the Lord is’ useless!! When we serve Him enthusiastically, He gets the glory and in turn we are blessed; both in this life and in eternity…!

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God’s Workmanship Is Marvellous

24th & 25th September

Weekend Edition

 

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous – how well I know it.”

Psalm 139:13-14

David had such a wonderful way of putting things. He had a deep yet simple comprehension of who his God was and who he was in God. What if David had been alive in today’s age, where we have MRI scans, CT scans, Ultrasounds and X-Rays. It’s guaranteed that he will be even more thankful and filled with praise when he could truly see the amazing way God has created us through the eyes of modern technology.

It is good to praise God for how He has made us; The care He has taken in designing us and the blessings our lives are in Him. If God cared so much to individually design you, create you and knit you together in your mother’s womb, then your life is super precious right?! Yet more than us, it is God’s workmanship that should get the praise. If God cared so much about designing us, and we wholeheartedly believe that, then surely that means that we can trust Him; Trust Him with healing the body He made for us. Trust Him with our lives and future. Trust Him in our work situations, financial situations and family situations.

God is our Creator, Sustainer and Provider. We can trust Him with our bodies and our lives. He is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving.