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Our Rock

3rd September

“I love you, Lord; You are my Strength. The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress and my Saviour; My God is my Rock, in whom I find Protection. He is my Shield, the Power that saves me, and my Place of safety.”

Psalm 18:1-2

David spent years running away from Saul when he was driven with madness and jealously towards David. Literally David’s very life was in danger on a daily basis. So great was David’s anguish that when he talked about his struggles in the rest of this chapter, he used phrases such as ‘death laid a trap in my path’ and ‘the grave wrapped its ropes around me’. This is heartfelt imagery; imagery that conjures up a hopeless situation. Yet hope was always at hand because David had the Lord by his side.

David knew that God was his rock, fortress, Saviour, strength, protection, power, shield and a place of refuge from the enemies. Although danger was at his doorstep, he knew that God would save him. In fact this poem is written after God saved David from his enemies and from the hands of Saul as a reflection on God’s saving grace.

David shared such an intimate walk with God. Yet his intimacy came from the knowledge of who God was and is. He knew he could fully trust and rely on his God to save him. And time and time again, God did just that. When we are walking through a tunnel that seems to have no light at the end, let us remember that our God, is our strength, He is our fortress and very present help in time of need. He hears our cry, and stretches His hand to us. We can have hope in hopeless situation because He is our hope and He never fails.

The Authority Of Christ
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The Authority Of Christ

12th August

“”Yes,” He told them, “I saw satan fall from Heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you!”

Luke 10:18-19

Yesterday we learnt that Jesus encouraged His disciples to rejoice, not in the authority of using His Name but in the fact that their names were written in the book of life. That is not to say that we should not rejoice in the victories gained in Christ, but rather rejoice in our salvation, the greatest victory.

However, it is important not to overlook the authority we have in Christ. That authority comes from Jesus and not of ourselves. In fact, Jesus was not just preaching an ideology, He was preaching a way of life. He saw first hand, the Father casting out satan because of his pride and arrogance. He was there. Our victory is not in some dead statue or carnal god, it is in the Living God who was and is and is to come. Because of the authority Jesus has, we can access that power and authority as part of our inheritance and because we are His children.

Yet His power and authority is not a game to be played with, but a tool to equip the believer with weapons to stand firm against the enemies schemes and tactics and to tear down his strongholds in spiritual realms. We are not supposed to go looking for trouble but when trouble comes, because of the authority we have in Christ, we can stand firm, call on His Mighty Name and see God’s power move.

If only we learned to live in His power more. We can access the very same power that rose Jesus from the dead, because that power lives in us too. Let us trust in His Mighty Name, call upon Him in times of trouble and know that the power of God is able to overcome all things.

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Divine GPS

10th August

“O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”
Jeremiah 10:23

The introduction of GPS in recent years has put a new spin on finding directions. Our phones, tablets, and dedicated GPS devices connect with orbiting satellites to determine where we are and tell us how to get where we want to go. We have to take the steps ourselves, but the directions come from over our heads.

This is not an entirely new idea, of course. The psalmist David said that God has ordained our days—and the steps in those days—before they come to pass (Psalm 139:16). Solomon wrote that “a man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). And the prophet Jeremiah wrote that “a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23, NIV, 1984). The point of these verses is not that God micromanages our individual steps through life. Rather it is the recognition that we need His help to find our way.

Our lives are not our own. We need God to guide our steps to walk us through this thing called life. Based on these verses, ask God to guide you today and every day. Divine guidance beats all others.

Today’s post is taken from Turning Point’s Daily Devotional

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Love is Contagious

8th-9th August

Weekend Edition

“We love each other because He loved us first. …. Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”

1 John 4:19,21b

Love summarised is this: God loved us, we sinned. He gave Himself up for us because He loved us, we still sinned. He paid our price, when we were sinners. We accept God’s love, and now God looks at what Jesus did for us, rather than what we did wrong. Our position in Him is no longer a ‘sinner’ but a child of God, who is seated with Christ in Heavenly places. Our identity is not that of a ‘sinner’ but that of someone declared free and innocent of all wrong doing. Our debt has been paid, we are free to live without chains. In all of the above, what is there that we did to earn His love…. Actually nothing. Our only role is to accept it.

When we accept God’s love our attitudes change, our desires to want to please Him rather than ourselves change. Moreover, our love for others change. Why? Because we are so content in the love of God, because we know who we are and have accepted His love for us, it changes the way we view others. No longer do we see people we human eyes, but we see people through the eyes of Christ. If God so loved you and gave Himself for you, then God also loves the people you meet daily on the street, at home, at work, at school and even in the roughest parts of your community.

We loved God because He first loved us. We loved others because we are loved. We love ourselves because God does. The root is always God’s love. Our prayer: That we may know more of God’s love. That we would understand it more. Then we would experience it more. That we would live in His love. When we do, our who lives will radically change.

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Shameless Persistence Prayer

3rd August

“But I tell you this-though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.”

Luke 11:8

Jesus had just finished teaching His disciples how to pray using the model of the Lord’s prayer in verses 2-4 (also found in Matthew 6:9-13). Yet what differs from Matthew’s account of this prayer is the story that precedes after it.

Jesus shares this interesting parable to highlight a very important truth when we come before Him in prayer. He gives the example of two friends. One of the men goes to his friend’s house in the middle of the night, as a visitor had just arrived. The host had no food to offer his visitor so he went to his friend’s house to ask for some food. However, this friend was trying to sleep, the door was locked and his answer was no. However the helpless host kept on persisting and eventually the friend gave him some food to share with his visitor.

Jesus then goes on to explain the meaning of this parable and alludes it to our relationship with God when we pray. Jesus says that if we keep on asking, we will receive what we are asking for. However, persistent prayer is not trying to bend God’s arm into giving us what we want. It a discipline to daily put our trust in Him as the One who can answer our prayers. Jesus used the example of shameless persistence in this parable as instruction to us too. He instructs us to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep knocking, Eventually we will receive, seek and find all that we are asking for.

God is so good, so gracious and so kind and knows how to give good gifts. In fact our Heavenly Father gave us the greatest gift ever, when He sent His only Son as a ransom for us. And if that was not enough, when Jesus ascended to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter and guidance. Because God loves us so dearly, He wants to shower us with His goodness and grace. Let us persist in seeking His goodness.

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Give To Caesar What Is Caesar’s

28th July

“He saw through their trickery and said, “Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. “Well then,” He said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.””

Luke 20:23-25

The Pharisees, time and time again tried to catch Jesus out, make Him look like a fool, or at best get Him arrested by the Romans for breaking their laws. In a similar situation, the Pharisees again approach Jesus to catch Him out however this time under the disguise of some spies pretending to be honest men.

The ‘honest men’ approach Jesus with flattering words that seemed contrary to their malicious intentions of trying to have Jesus arrested. They pose a question to Jesus to try to trick Him, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?” If Jesus answered yes then the religious leaders could have stirred up a storm and put Jesus in the same bracket as the pious and greedy tax collectors. They could have accused Jesus of putting burdensome demands onto the Jewish people who already felt that taxation from the Romans was unfair and unjust. However, if Jesus answered no, then the religious leaders could have reported Jesus to the Roman governors for inciting rebellion among the Jews. Perhaps they could have even accused Jesus of being a religious zealot trying to set His people free from the Roman authority.

However, Jesus in His supreme wisdom answered, yet again, with such intelligence and authority. His answer, “to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. Amazing. In answering this way He silenced His critics, didn’t incite rebellion and actually taught both the people listening and today’s reader an important lesson.

We need to obey the law of the land and pay our taxes faithfully (for in doing so we honour God) and give to God what belongs to God (after all, everything we have is God’s anyway). Jesus’ wisdom yet again silenced the Pharisee’s shrewd tactics and yet again, Jesus set us an example of how we too should live our lives, purely, justly and righteously.

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Hallelujah Anyway

3rd July

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them!”

Romans 8:28 (NLT)

Although this is a previous post, I wanted to share it again as it is appropriate for my life now and I am sure will be a great help to somebody else today.

I was talking with a colleague about something that had frustrated us both. It was a situation out of our hands yet needed to have some urgent attention. After discussing the difficulties I left her office and as I was walking out she shouted “Hallelujah Anyway”. What a fantastic statement of faith, contentment and trust in an Almighty God.

This verse sums up the “Hallelujah Anyway” statement. For if we know that God is in control then what is the need to worry. Worrying put us in the position of God and takes away the trust we have in God to help us through our situations, Interestingly the NLT version of this verse varies slightly from others. More often than not we hear the version that says “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…..”, however this version claims that “God causes everything to work together…”. The focus varies from things changing to God working. The emphasis is not on our circumstances but on God, the author of life. It is God who is working in our lives to resolves all things for His glory. Sometimes it might not be that the situation or problem changes as YOU might like, but what is guaranteed is the fact that whatever the problem, God will make good from a challenging situation in accordance with His perfect will for your life. It takes faith to trust Him but the benefit is we allow God to work and don’t try to fix things in our strength!

Whatever you face today, take courage that God is at work in your situation if you allow Him in. Shout out that no matter what happens in your day “Hallelujah Anyway!!!”

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Don’t Give Up Doing Good

16th June

“So let’s not give up doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.”

Galatians 6:7-9

It is so easy to get discouraged when you hear phrases like “the good guys always come last”. However in actual fact, the Apostle Paul in today’s verse, tells us that the opposite is actually true. Moreover we need to examine our hearts to find out what the motivation of doing good really is all about. Are we trying to be people pleasers or are we wanting the world to see the goodness of Jesus through the way we live our lives?

I was reminded this week of a friend who we have been sharing the good news of Jesus with. It felt like the good seed of the Gospel had been sown but no fruit was being seen. Yet just a few days ago, this person expressed a desire to know more about Jesus. Now although this verse may not be talking about evangelism directly, the principle of continuing to keep hope, even when you may not see the fruit immediately is a great encouragement not to give up doing what is right and good. We are promised that at “just the right time” we will reap a harvest.

When the world is constantly telling us to mistreat woman in order to them keen, telling us to fight our way to the top of the career ladder by knocking down everyone who is front of us, or telling us to cheat our way to success, let us rather live in the opposite Spirit. Let us do good when its probably easier to do bad. Let us do good even when we can’t see the fruit of doing good. Let us not give up doing good, for “whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone!” One day we will reap the harvest of blessing and a harvest of lives transformed by the goodness of God.

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The Grace Of God

23rd -24th May

Weekend Edition

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty of sins.”

Romans 3:23-24

This last week we have explored the life of Samson, one of the longest serving Judges of Israel. We have looked at his mistakes and investigated his weaknesses. However before we pronounce judgement on him, we must also take into account that he was remembered and honoured for his faith in the book of Hebrews.

We also looked at the life of Joseph and saw how it contrasted to Samson’s lifestyle and decision-making. It is clear that removing ourselves from situations that cause us to stumble and rejecting the enemies fiery arrows through faith and in the power of Christ, prevents us from falling into sin. Much like Joseph, we are to put our love for God before our need to satisfy our fleshly desires.

However, when we do stumble and fall, make wrong decisions, put ourselves in compromising situations, and show attitudes contrary to Christ-like living, He is still gracious and kind to forgive and declare us righteous. The great news is that because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who paid for our sins with His life, we are declared free and righteous. We do not deserve the grace of God, yet as the writer of Romans says, He freely paid the penalty of our sins. Today we must rejoice in the grace of God, rejoice in His forgiveness and rejoice in His love.