MONDAY March 24th
Psalm 25:4-5
‘Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.’
Today, marks the 5th anniversary of me writing and sending out these devotions. I never imagined at the start as we went into the first Covid lockdown that I would still be sending them out five years later, for I originally prepared them because being only just inducted a few weeks previously as the pastor at Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, I hadn’t really had the chance to get to know you, the congregation, and felt it was right to keep in touch and to encourage us for however long this pandemic was going to last—and I think that I like many others didn’t expect it to last any more than a few weeks. But last it did, with us going through the various restrictions etc. that prevented us from meeting together, the result being that when things returned to normal, I continued to produce and send the devotions.
This one today, is devotion number 1218. You may recall me mentioning recently in our family service that I was useless with English language so much so that our English lecturer when I was at Bible College couldn’t understand why I would put myself through O level English! Well, I give all the glory to God who has given me the ability to be able to have put together and will continue to put the devotions together. Yes, there will have been grammar and spelling mistakes, but I trust that with those put to one side and graciously overlooked, the devotions will continue to help us on our journey of faith.
Now in the devotions I have taken us through several different themes or subjects, sometimes even going through various books of the Bible, the purpose being to encourage us in our faith. I could use the phrase; I have sought to walk us through many aspects of our Christian faith, and I trust that that has been the case, but this leads me to where I will take us over the next few devotions, I want to look at some scriptures that are to do with our Christian Walk.
Now going back to the time of the lockdowns and the restrictions I wonder what your memories are, there is a sense in which for me it was a time to be able to stop and recuperate having had a foot injury for a few months before moving and of course at the same time a period of frustration as we got held up with being unable to complete our move and get to our new home in the North East.
I also think back to the many phone calls I made because I am one who does not enjoy making phone calls, and often I just couldn’t fully understand the conversation I was having as I was still trying to get used to this new accent we had suddenly discovered! But my best memories are that we took full advantage of being able to go out everyday for a walk, enjoying the woods that were on our temporary doorstep.
See, I love walking, especially if I am in new surroundings, to enjoy the sights and the sounds. Well, each one of us as believers are on a walk, we can call it the walk of faith, the Christian Walk, and it is along a narrow path, but it is a path that leads to life everlasting, it will take us into the presence of almighty God and of our wonderful Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this will be the theme over the next few devotions, and although the devotions are for those who already find themselves on this pathway, it would be wonderful if as a result of reading the devotions that others too would make the decision to get off the broad way that leads to destruction and to join us on this the narrow way, which is also the better way.