Emmanuel Pentecostal Church Gateshead Resources

FRIDAY February 7^th

 

A few weeks back on a Sunday evening I spoke from the first part of Psalm 27:1 and here I include it as our text for today:

 

Psalm 27:1

‘The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?’

 

My apologies to those who were there that evening, it hadn’t been my intention to go down this route, but I am going to use some of what I shared on that occasion in this devotion—and a few devotions that follow as it fits in with my devotional theme, so bear with me!

 

In our previous devotion I mentioned that Jesus was the subject of the Old Testament, and especially we see it in the prophetic declarations of the prophet Isiah, and one is from Isaiah 7:14 ‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’

 

When I was speaking on that Sunday evening, I suggested that because Jesus is God with us, that is he is Emmanuel, (Immanuel) then when we read verses such as our text from Psalm 27:1, as we read the words ‘The Lord is my’, we can also read it as ‘Jesus is my’.

 

And so over the next few devotions I will take us through some of these statements that are found in the Psalms, and we should get an even bigger picture concerning who Jesus is and what he as the eternal Son of God has become to each one of us.

 

I mentioned on that Sunday evening, that the words ‘The LORD is’ are good for they tell us something about who God is, but by having the word ‘MY’ added the statement become more personal. ‘The LORD is’ could speak of God as being afar off, distant, but when we say, ‘The LORD is MY’, or ‘Jesus is MY’, it speaks of the closeness of God, the nearness of God has he has come to us through his Son.

 

I also suggested that evening that if you can make the time to begin to write a list down of all that Jesus has become to you since you have come to know him as your Saviour. And I guarantee that however long the list you may write down may be, he will still be far more than we can ever imagine. He is such a wonderful Saviour.

 

We will consider some of these things as we continue next week.

 

THURSDAY February 6^th

 

Now, I have been using a lot of words beginning with S as we have been going through these devotions concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and considering the 53^rd chapter of Isaiah which we have used over the last two devotions, and many other Old Testament Scriptures, we have another word beginning with S and it is that Jesus had been the SUBJECT of so much that had been written. Yes, as we read through the various Old Testament books with the various genres, such as that of history, praise, prophecy etc. they are all written to point us to the One who would come in the fulness of time.

 

And when you consider the matter there is no better or greater subject than this one concerning Jesus. Someone has said that the whole of Scripture has a red thread running through it, the thread of redemption. As I write today the words of a modern song have come to the forefront of my mind, ‘We speak Jesus’ and there is no greater person that we can speak about. Just as he was the subject of so much of the Old Testament and was the subject of the proclamation of the angels (Luke 2) and the apostles throughout the New Testament, so he should be from the lips of those of us who have been touched by his amazing grace.

 

I needed Jesus and I am so glad that I have come to know him, and there is absolutely no doubt that our friends, our neighbours, our communities, our nation and the whole world needs Jesus, they might not realise it, they may not even be willing to accept that they need him, but they do.

 

I haven’t given a text yet, but here it is, from Acts 4 and verses 17-20

 

‘” But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”’

 

The two apostles, Peter and John were being forbidden to talk about Jesus, but they knew that no one could silence them because they could not but speak about what they had seen and heard, and who or what had they seen and heard, to them the most important subject was to speak about Jesus.

 

We in the UK need to take hold of the opportunities that we have to be able to speak Jesus and here we will conclude with some of the words of the song:

 

I just wanna speak the name of Jesus

Over every heart and every mind

‘Cause I know there is peace within Your presence

I speak Jesus

I just wanna speak the name of Jesus

‘Til every dark addiction starts to break

Declaring there is hope and there is freedom

I speak Jesus

 

Shout Jesus from the mountains

Jesus in the streets

Jesus in the darkness, over every enemy

Jesus for my family

I speak the holy name

 

‘Cause Your name is power

Your name is healing

Your name is life

Break every stronghold

Shine through the shadows

Burn like a fire

 

^{Songwriters: Jesse Reeves / Dustin Smith / Abby Benton / Kristen Dutton / Carlene Prince / Raina Pratt}

^{I Speak Jesus lyrics © Integrity’s Praise! Music, All Essential Music, For Me And My House Songs}

WEDNESDAY February 5^th

 

Isaiah 53:8–12

 

‘By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.’

 

Now, as we consider these verses today, you will recall that I mentioned yesterday that often these verses come under the heading of ‘The Suffering Servant’, but if we re-read the first part of verse 11 ‘Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied’, we see that the suffering Servant is going to be the satisfied Servant! All the awful suffering and anguish and pain was going to be worthwhile for the latter part of the same verse says ‘by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities’.

 

He went to the Cross, he willingly suffered, because he knew that the result would be that his righteousness would be counted to all who would come to believe on him and accept him as Saviour. And I believe that as one by one, men and women come to accept the Lord Jesus Christ he is overwhelmed as it were with satisfaction, yes, when you came to faith, Jesus would have said ‘It was worth it’, when I came to faith, Jesus would have said ‘It was worth it’, it was as we read in Hebrews 12, for the joy that was set before him, that he endured the Cross, despising the shame, yes, the joy of being exalted and seated at the right hand of God, but I think even more than that was the joy of seeing men and women being saved and becoming the children of God.

 

And the more I ponder all that Jesus was willing to suffer and go through as the suffering servant to bring about my eternal redemption, the very thought of it with sweetness fills my breast, and so it should for each one of us and cause us to be full of gratitude and thanksgiving, for putting it personally, I am amazed that he should love me, I am an undeserving sinner that has been saved by his grace. His suffering has rescued me and set me on a road that leads me away from Hell and upward toward heaven. His suffering has brought me into the incredible family of God, his suffering has given me an eternal hope.

 

When with the ransomed in glory,

His face I at last shall see,

‘twill be my joy through the ages,

To sing of his love for me.

 

How marvellous! How wonderful!

And my song shall ever be,

How marvellous! How wonderful!

Is my Saviours love for me!

TUESDAY February 4^th

 

If you read the previous devotion, you will recall that I left us considering Jesus as he submitted to or surrendered to his Father’s will as he knelt and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew at that moment in time, the immense suffering that he was about to undertake as he trod the path to Calvary to enable you and I who are creatures of time to be able to know what it is to be made into new creations who would be able to enjoy eternity in his presence.

 

Earlier in these devotions I mentioned that as Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in Luke 4 (verses 17-20) he would also have known what the prophet had written in what we know as Isaiah 52:13 through to the end of chapter 53, which is often given the heading, ‘The Servant’s Suffering’ or perhaps ‘The Suffering Servant’.

 

And it is there that we read the verses that so clearly prophecy or predict the way in which the One who knelt in the Garden, would eventually suffer as the Servant who became the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

 

And why was he willing to suffer, John gives us a wonderful answer in his first epistle, it is found in verses 9- 10 of the fourth chapter ‘In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’

 

Because he loved us, yes, God loved us so much, that he willingly sent his Son, and the Son loved us so much, that even while we were still sinners he willingly suffered in ways that even though we have a record of what happened in the gospels, was way beyond what we can ever imagine, his love was immense, his suffering was immense and the salvation that we receive as a result is immense.

 

So today we will have as our verses some of what the prophet Isaiah had written, 700 years before it happened concerning the suffering Servant, who has become our wonderful Saviour.

 

‘He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth’, (Isaiah 53:3-7).

 

He took my sins and my sorrows,

He made them his very own,

He bore the burden to Calvary,

And suffered and died alone.

MONDAY February 3^rd

 

I wonder if anyone has considered since the last devotion as to what the word I am going to introduce today is going to be as we continue to think about our wonderful Lord and Saviour, Jesus? You may have possibly come up with three words.

 

Well, I gave a clue that it was linked to the verses from Philippians that remind us that God has exalted the Lord Jesus Christ and given him the name which is above all names. The answer is found in the verses that precede, and it is verses 4-8

 

‘Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’.

 

The three possible words are first, servant, but this is going to be for another devotion, the other two are similar, submission and surrender. They both are synonyms of each other, but Paul is remining us that Jesus was highly exalted because he had learned submission, he had surrendered to the will of his Father.

 

The well-known verses that we can link to this theme is from Luke 22:39-42

 

‘And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”’

 

The verses that follow tell us that Jesus was in such anguish as he contemplated what lay ahead of him, that an angel came to strengthen him, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.

 

In those agonising moments, Jesus submitted himself, surrendered himself to the will and the purpose of God. He had already humbled himself in becoming a man, he further humbled himself by being obedient in going to place of death on the cross—and it was all because he loved you and me!

 

Paul says that we should have the same mind among us that Jesus had—that is we in becoming a part of the family of God also need to learn obedience through submitting and surrender ourselves to the will of God.

 

As I am typing this, I suddenly realised that the song playing in the background is a song of surrender, ‘I the Lord of land and sea’ and the chorus part says this:

 

‘Here I am Lord, is it I Lord, I have heard you calling in the night, I will go Lord, if you lead me, I will hold your people in my heart.’

 

Previously I had been listening to the song ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross’ and this also calls us to a place of surrender, ‘Love so amazing so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all’.

 

Pause for a moment and settle your mind to think of Jesus as he knelt in the garden—submitting, surrendering to his Father’s will. Think of the anguish and the agony he was going through, think of the sweat drops of blood—if that does not move us to thank him for being obedient we will consider in the next devotion of how much he willingly suffered because he loved us with an everlasting love.

FRIDAY January 31^st

 

Today, we will continue to consider the truth that Jesus is superior, as we read from Hebrews 1 in the previous devotion, he is superior to the angels, first because he is the Son of God, secondly, he has a superior name, third because he is worthy of worship, fourthly because he is exalted and seated upon the throne, fifthly because he is eternal, sixthly because he is Creator and seventhly because he is God.

 

Now in making this list, it is not a complete list, but it takes us to Philippians 2:9-11, ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

 

Jesus has always been superior, that is he has never been anything less than superior, because he has always, that is he has eternally been and forever will be the Son of God, but if I can put it this way, there was something about his incarnation, his suffering, his death, his resurrection, his ascension and his exaltation that rubber stamped it. It declares to all of heaven, to all upon the earth and under the earth, to principalities and powers and spiritual forces, and even if they will be determined to deny it now, the day is coming when they will have to accept it, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

 

In other words, if the angels may have thought differently, and we know that the devil wishes differently, and mankind definitely thinks differently, God through the exaltation of Jesus has made it resoundingly clear that Jesus is far above all, he is exalted to the highest place, he has been given the name which is above all other names and he has been given an eternal throne.

 

As the Son of God he is unique, in that his name is the only name whereby men and women can be saved, his sacrifice is the one and only acceptable sacrifice that can atone for the sins of the world, he is the only door or gate into heaven, he is the only way, he is the only one who has lived in such a way that he could present himself as the sacrifice, become the Saviour and be exalted as the superior one.

 

This is my Jesus, and the very thought of him, as I consider who he is, what he has done, what he is doing as he blesses me here on earth while at the same time is preparing a place for me in heaven with sweetness fills my breast.

 

Now the word superior leads me to the next word that I want to use and is linked to the verses from Philippians 2, and we will come to that in the next devotion.

 

THURSDAY January 30^th

 

Luke 4:36

‘And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”’

 

Matthew 8:27

‘And the men marvelled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”’

 

As I come to an end of looking at the miracles of Jesus, again as it was with the parables, I couldn’t go through them all, but just highlight a few that fitted into the theme, concerning Jesus, today I have included two verses.

 

The first follows from where Jesus had delivered a man from an unclean spirit (mentioned in the previous devotion) and the second follows from after Jesus had stilled the storm and they lead us to the next word I wanted to highlight beginning with S, concerning Jesus and it is from sweetness to satisfaction to sufficiency to stillness to serving and today to superiority!

 

There is absolutely no one like Jesus. He is superior because he is above all, he is superior because he is God, he is superior because he holds all power and all authority, (Matthew 28:28) he is superior because there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, (Acts 4:12). We could continue, but the words of Scripture declare this and tomorrow we will look at what these verses from Hebrew 1:1-13 say to us about Jesus:

 

‘Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?’

Wednesday January 29^th

 

Luke 4:38-39

 

‘And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.’

 

In two verses we have recorded for us what I am going to call two parts. The first part is the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law who had a high fever, and Jesus goes to the home to visit, and he stood over her, rebuked the fever and it left her. This is the first physical healing recorded in Lukes’s gospel, and in the verses preceding it he has recorded the deliverance of a man delivered from an unclean demon.

 

So immediately as Jesus embarks on his earthly ministry, we see that he has authority over the demonic and over sickness / disease.

 

But it is what happened after the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law that caught my attention, and it is this ‘and immediately she rose and began to serve them’. Now obviously this included all that were in the house, however many there may have been, but more importantly she would have had the joy and the privilege of serving Jesus.

 

And I want to remind us that there is joy in serving Jesus, a joy that should come from hearts that have been spiritually healed! We were spiritually sick, in fact it is worse than that we were spiritually dead, but Jesus came, and he has quickened us, he has made us a live again, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2 and as a result we should long, we should desire to be in a place of service for Jesus. And in doing so we are not only serving him, but we are also serving each other, all who are in the house, particularly the house of God where we fellowship together.

 

I end this devotion with the words of a well-known song:

 

There is joy in serving Jesus,

As I journey on my way,

Joy that fills the heart with praises,

Ev’ry hour and ev’ry day.

 

There is joy in serving Jesus,

Joy that triumphs over pain,

Fills my soul with heaven’s music,

Till I join the glad refrain.

 

There is joy in serving Jesus,

As I walk alone with God.

‘Tis the joy of Christ, my Savior,

Who the path of suffering trod.

 

There is joy in serving Jesus,

Joy amid the darkest night.

For I’ve learned the wondrous secret,

And I’m walking in the light.

 

There is joy, joy,

Joy in serving Jesus,

Joy that throbs within my heart;

Ev’ry moment, ev’ry hour,

As I draw upon His power,

There is joy, joy, joy that never shall depart.

 

Notice how over the last few devotions we have gone from sweetness to satisfaction to sufficiency to stillness to serving. Well tomorrow see what is next.

TUESDAY January 28^th

 

Mark 4:35-41

 

‘On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”’

 

This is another of the incredible miracles that are recorded for us in the gospels, and there is another one similar to this one, the difference being in this miracle Jesus is in the boat, albeit fast asleep, while the other miracle recorded in John’s gospel happens after the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus is not in the boat, but he walks on the water. In both accounts there is a storm, and Jesus calms the storm.

 

I want to make a play on words for our devotion today and adapt the words of the song ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast’ and from the events of this miracle change it to ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with stillness fills my breast’. Just a single change of word but imagine the fear that would have gripped the disciples as the storm began to batter the boat, the ESV calls it a great windstorm, the waves beginning to fill the boat with water, but what seemed to be more concerning to the disciples was the fact that Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern! The statement they make as they wake him is quite telling ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing’?

 

Well with hindsight of course we know that Jesus would have cared, but the truth of the matter is that with Jesus on the boat they were never going to perish, whether he was asleep or a wake, but regardless he gets up and he rebuked the wind by saying ‘Peace be still’ and the wind ceased. And I am confident that I can draw this conclusion that Jesus also brought a stillness to their troubled breasts.

 

And Jesus is the ultimate source of true peace because he is the Prince of Peace, you should be aware by now that I have shared with us the verses from Isaiah 26:3-4  to be the motto for us as a fellowship for 2025, ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock’.

 

Whatever yours or my circumstances are at the time of reading this daily devotion, as we call out to Jesus, just as the disciples did in their troubling and fearful circumstances, he is willing to come and to speak his peace into our hearts.

 

A reminder of Psalm 46, which to sum up the first few verses, though this and that will happen, even may be happening at this moment, God calls to us to ‘Be still’ and to know that he is God. As we learn to be still, he will speak stillness into the storms and the dilemmas of our lives.

 

So, change the word and say along with me, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with stillness fills my breast’ and allow him to bring calm to your soul.

MONDAY January 27^th

 

I am returning to the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead again because there is something so special that we can learn about Jesus and it is found in the shortest verse in the whole of Scripture, which contains just two words, yet they are so powerful, ‘Jesus wept’, (v35).

 

Yes, the miracle was going to be ‘for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it’, (v4) but it also shows powerfully to us and especially to those who had gathered at Lazarus’ home something of the humanity of Jesus. It says that when they saw Jesus’ weeping, they said these words ‘See how he loved him!’ (v36)

 

Why can I sing and mean the words of the song that is the basis for these devotions, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast’? Well, there are a number of reasons but the one reason within the context today is because this Jesus who I have come to know and to love is a compassionate Saviour, and because he is God, we can look at some verses from the Old Testament that remind us of his compassion.

 

Psalm 103:13 ‘As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.’ The very next verse says this ‘For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.’ Yes, the compassionate Saviour understands all about us, and we can say he understands more than we sometimes realise, because he himself became a man and suffered in all the same ways as we do, but he did so without sin (Hebrews 14:14-16).

 

When we mourn the loss of a loved ones, he has been there, and as he wept he understands our weeping and our grieving hearts, he knew what it was to be despised, rejected and hated, he knew what it was like to suffer, he even understood tiredness, weariness and hunger, Therefore he is more than willing and more able than anyone else to come alongside us and to help us through all our life circumstances.

 

Often in the New Testament as Jesus went about the many and varied circumstances that he found himself in, it says that as he looked and as he saw he was moved with compassion. When he saw the weak, the helpless and hopeless, the sick and the possessed. Those who were outcasts, those who had plenty or nothing he was moved with a heart of compassion toward them. And he is still the same sympathising and compassionate Saviour today, he knows all about us, he cares deeply for us and every day his heart is moved towards us.

 

The first verse of my all-time favourite hymn speaks of his compassion,

 

Love Divine, all love excelling,

Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;

Fix in us Thy humble dwelling.

All Thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, Thou art all compassion;

Pure, unbounded love Thou art;

Visit us with Thy salvation,

Enter every trembling heart.

 

Jesus thou art all compassion—allow him to come and to visit you today and to not only give you his salvation, but also his cheer, to come alongside you and to lift you out of your weariness, for who can cheer the heart like Jesus.