Monthly Archives: February 2008

Comfort Zone – 2 Timothy 1:6-12

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The day we become a Christian we are given the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, strength, courage and power as well as many other Godly traits to enable us to live out the rest of our earthly lives for Him.  Without the Holy Spirit, we would be doomed to failure, as we would essentially be “going it alone”, under our own strength!  That is why the Lord blesses us with his Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is with us throughout the good times and the bad, he never leaves us or forsakes us.  Therefore when there is a difficult situation at work, I know I can lean on Him, and when I go into meetings to discuss issues, I am not alone, but accompanied by the creator God.  God is all powerful, greater than anything, incomparable!  I don’t care how many people are against you, God can not be outnumbered!

Seeing as, therefore, His Spirit is with us throughout the good or bad, we really need to ensure we apply this to areas of ministry and fellowship.  We have been asked to make disciples of all nations, therefore lets not sit back!  Lets step out of our comfort zones!  Lets do things we would normally shy from!  For example I am now challenging myself to give portions of word in small church meeting groups.  I struggle with the fear that I am going to say something wrong, or that I will have misunderstood something, however, I should not let those fears stop me!

If we were to avoid situations that cause fear or apprehension, not only would we not achieve anything for the Lord, but we would also have no life!  Yes, life would be rather dull!  Satan likes to trick us into staying firmly on the fence.  He does not want us leading those Christian lives, and doing those great things for Jesus!  Don’t listen to his excuses, as you are not alone!  You have the creator God on your side.  The Holy Spirit gives you power to be able to do his will.

What’s your comfort zone?  Take a few minutes to work it out… then take your first step out of it!  Make that call, and book

that meeting, write that book, speak to that person, minister to that friend, whatever is on your heart offer it to the Lord in prayer, and with his blessing, go for it.

Suffering – Luke 24:13-27

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Often when something isn’t going quite the way I want it to in life, I suddenly find myself praying, and thinking about God!  Like Lincoln in today’s Our Daily Bread devotional, I would often pray, or ask other to pray for me.  Times of trial seemed to focus me on spiritual things.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus, had missed the point that Jesus had to go through that suffering so that the sin of the world was paid for!  Jesus hung on that cross and God threw every sin that you or I have and will ever commit at him.  Jesus then rose from the dead, in victory over death, thus showing that God has the power to save us from the grave and we will live forever with Him.

For a Christian, these are comforting thoughts, and thoughts that often pop into my head now that I am saved.  Suffering in any form although uncomfortable, can lead us to a better spiritual understanding, as well as experiencing divine comfort from our saviour.

In times of trial, turn to the Lord for comfort and help.  He suffered death on a cross, so he understands more than anyone true pain and sorrow.

This reminds me of a video I saw on YouTube one time!  Run a search for “logan skyangel”, you will be so moved at this young child, whom in a time of suffering, turned to the Lord and received amazing comfort and strength.

Incomparable – Psalm 89:1-8

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 6 For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD ?
Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?

What a great reminder of how awesome God is!  There is no one, no thing, nothing that can compare to Almighty God.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, Creator God and Wonderful Saviour.  He isn’t the angry old man with a long white beard throwing thunder bolts at those who displease him, but he is a Loving Father!

The Devotional today picks up on His saving grace.  Some people have amazing testimonies of how they were caught up in miserable situations, and the Lord took them out of those situations.  How inspiring.  However, for those of us with less “inspiring” testimonies, (saved at church at a young age), remember that the Lord still saved you.  Imagine what your life would have been like without him!  So he saved you BEFORE you got caught up in that world!

No other “god” offers this gift of grace, that’s what sets Christianity apart from any other faith, and is one of the many reasons our God is Incomparable.

He Understands – Ephesians 4:1-6

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This call to action reminds us of our need to remain pure, to imitate Christ and be a living witness to other of the amazing power and love of our Lord and Saviour. After all, if there is nothing different about us, if we act on all worldly desires, and make decisions that only benefit ourselves, how are others going to see His love in our lives

?

Even from a jail cell, Paul was able to keep the faith, and keep encouraging others. You see we have a saviour that understands the trials of life. He came down from heaven as a man and spent over 30 year on this earth.

During that time he experienced temptation, grief, affliction and even death on a cross. Throughout this time he remained the perfect lamb, sacrificing himself for our sins.

So when we are going through trials, like Paul and like our Saviour, keep the faith, keep trusting on the Lord. As you will read in many of my devotionals; Prayer, Reading the Word, Fellowship and Worship are all essential in our lives to give us the strength and encouragement to live our lives for Him.

Affliction – Psalm 119:65-80

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Today’s devotional picks out 2 verses that speak to our daily struggles:

Psalm 119:67,71

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.

71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.

Whatever the Psalmist’s affliction, instead of becoming embittered and blaming the Lord, he actually thanked the Lord for the affliction! My initial reaction was Why?

“So that I might learn your decrees”.

When an event happens in your life be it good or bad, there is always the opportunity to learn a lesson from it.

I tend to find though, that I usually learn something more from a bad situation and tend not to forget it! I don’t think we are asking the Lord to send bad times to us so we can become wise, but at the same time, we can thank him for the wisdom and thirst for him that we nurture during those times.

Our God is a God of comfort, a tower of strength, and ever present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). Through the power of his Holy Spirit, during times of difficulty, he will be there with us, comforting us, guiding us, making us stronger. And as a result of those situations, we will come to appreciate other things in life that perhaps we had not considered before, or simply took for granted.

Although I would like the rest of my life to be picture perfect and rosy, I know there will be troubled times ahead. I pray that each experience will be a learning experience, and that I will come through them with renewed and strengthened faith. In Jesus name, Amen.

Lookin for Love – 1 John 3:1-3

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Today is Valentines Day.  A time when lovers send each other cards to declare their undying love for each other.  Restaurants will be taking bookings, The stores will be pushing their valentines merchandise and Florists will be busy with last minute orders!

12 Red Roses may be a lavish show of affection, however God sent his one and only Son to die on the cross for our Sins so that we may have eternal life… Why?  Because he loves each and every one of us more that we could ever imagine, know or love.

Single people on valentines day may be reminded that they are alone, and have no lover.  They may earnestly be seeking a date, delivering anonymous cards, surfing internet dating websites all in a desperate effort to find love!  If they are not saved, then they are missing out on something even more special than finding a mate, they are missing out on a close, personal relationship with almighty God our father!

There is no other love more satisfying, more fulfilling, more wonderful than the Love of God.  People can spend their entire lives looking for “the one” who answers all their criteria, and yet never find perfect love in the Lord.  It’s our responsibility as Christians to tell everyone about the Lord, or we are to go and make disciples.  So on this valentines day, lets make an extra concerted effort to lead the love lost souls of this world to our perfect saviour.

Verse 3 jumped out at me also.  in the living translation is reads:

“And everyone who really believes this will try to stay pure because Christ is pure”.

Firstly, it is great now to have a verse to use when people ask; “so when you ask God into your life, what’s to stop you from carrying on as normal”.   Secondly however, it reminds me that not only telling people about Gods love is important but showing Gods love to others, is just as powerful a witness if not even more so!

Spend a moment to pray for those looking for love, that they may find Him.

New Creation – Psalm 51:8-13

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My good friend Jenny once said, “becoming a Christian takes the joy out of sin”.  A simple statement but how right she is!  Whenever I have felt as if I have become shrouded in darkness, cut off from the grace of God, and unable to grow spiritualy in the Lord.

Just as a plant can not grow in the darkness, we as Christians need to ensure we are not living in the darkness of sin, but be children of the light.  Exposing and un-confessed sin to the light of the Lord, and opening our hearts to the Holy Spirit, giving us NEW LIFE, a new hope and a strength to do the amazing things He has planned for us.

Sin does not fill the void that the fulness of God fills, and we can often make the mistake of falling further into sin, to try and make ourselves feel better.  Come back to the light, feed on His word, ask for forgiveness, for a new heart, to become a new person in him.

The Lord will forgive your sin, and as he made the heavens and the earth will make you a new creation, giving you the strength, wisdom and courage to do his will.  The Lord wants us to succeed in life, to grow in him and bring others to him, we cant do that with sin in our hearts.

David prayed this Psalm after he had taken another man’s wife.  He was so sorry for what he had done, and came before the Lord in humble prayer.  When we sin, like Jenny said, the fun is gone!  In fact the joy that we feel when with the Lord is blotted out during that time of darkness, and we realise how horrible it is without Him.  Just as David did, confess your sin, pray for strength, pray for a new heart and for the restoration of that joy you feel with him.

Remember how it felt when you first accepted Jesus into your heart and the pure joy?  You can experience that every day in Him!

Staying caught up in sin, not only cuts us off from our joy in him, but hinders the great and exciting plans He has for our lives.  I pray that I will keep this Psalm on my heart as a prayer when I fail and an inspiration not to.

Love Your Wife – Ephesians 5:25-33

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I haven’t yet read the devotional but I wanted to note down my first thoughts about this before I carried on. The passage talks about loving your wife as Christ loves the Church. It’s a great reminder of how we should honour, respect and cherish our wives. Marriage isn’t something to be done lightly, and once we are married it is so important to work on it.

The daily devotional continues to also talk about understanding your wife. It is important to spend time with her, to get to know her more and more each day.

Part of honouring our wives includes taking care of ourselves, ensuring we are healthy and fed. We need to be in good shape if we are going to do all of the above!!! Of course it would be foolish to try do all this in our own strength!

Prayer, Reading the Word, Fellowship and Worship all play a vital part in maintaining the strength and wisdom to continue to be a good husband.

Of course if my wife reads this, I am sure I will be in for some comments!

Correction – 2 Samuel 12:1-13

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I think this is a valuable lesson in humility.  Often when someone points out we are doing wrong, we can get very defensive and arguments can ensue.  David here, accepted completely Nathan’s correction without fighting back, without being defensive or getting angry.  David acknowledged that he had sinned against the Lord, and accepted the consequences.

When someone offers you a compliment, it is very easy to accept.  Even at times when it may not be founded in absolute fact, we still enjoy the attention, feel good about the compliment and go on our way.  For some people, compliments are so important to their overall outlook on life, that they can tend to seek approval regularly and even take actions that they see will result in more approval.

David did wrong, and when it was put to him in that way, he accepted the correction.  He confessed his Sin to the Lord and sought forgiveness and as Nathan said, “The Lord has taken away your sin, you will not die”.  Check out Psalm 51.  This is where David says sorry to the Lord for what he has done.

Like David, when we do wrong, confess it to the Lord, and seek his forgiveness and strength to move on and learn.  If a brother or sister points out something that you are doing or have done that you didn’t consider a problem, don’t be quick to defend yourself, but take the time to think about what they have said, how it applies biblically and whether they have a point.

Fighting Back – Matthew 5:38-48

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“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. That was the old law, and a law that I think we would prefer to adhere to sometimes! I can remember many occasions where someone had wronged me and I have immediately wanted revenge. The problem is, I would never just reply with an “eye”, I would have to top what they did to me, plus a bit more so I could be satisfied that I had truly got “one up” on them!

Unfortunately, in most cases like these, the person I retaliate against, has exactly the same thoughts, and before we know it a full on fight is in progress! Not necessarily a fist fight, but sometimes a fight of wills, and battling to have the upper hand in situations.l

The Lord is asking us not to retaliate! We are to turn the other cheek, give to one who asks you and not to turn away from those that wish to borrow. All easier said than done when you factor in human nature, selfishness and competitive spirit! I certainly would have struggled to turn the other cheek when me and my sister were having one our our daily rows as children! Instead we spent many years trying to trump the other last attack!

Just think how much less stressful our childhood would have been if we were to have adopted Jesus principles and thus lived in harmony! Thankfully we have grown up, and no longer fight, but it took many years for us to get to that stage!

I pray that in all of life’s situation the Lord will give us the strength to be more like Jesus. He will bless us with the power not to fight back, but to love, not to want revenge, but to care, and to be a living walking witness to his amazing love. Turning the other cheek not only can diffuse a situation, and nip it in the bud before becoming a battle, but it also is a living witness to the power of the Lord, and actions at times can really speak louder than words!

Practice love, not punches!