Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

FRIDAY April 4th

 

Isaiah 43:2

‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.’

 

A walk in adversity

 

I wonder how many times we can recall someone saying ‘The Christian life is not a bed of roses’, and it is true, just because we have given our lives to Jesus, we do not suddenly get a free pass to go through life without sickness, trials, difficulties etc, in fact being a Christian can often lead to some of these things being multiplied, as we see in the opening chapters of the book of Acts as persecution rose up against those who walked in the way.

 

But the difference for Christians is that as we go through trials and difficulties, we have Jesus with us. I have often said that I cannot understand how unbelievers would reject the help and the peace that Jesus is willing to give to them as they suffer in life and go through serious sickness and trials that are hard to bear.

 

God promises to be with us as we go through these things and he gives us his comfort, his strength, his peace and his help. We all know the ‘Footprints Poem’ which ends with the words ‘I carried you’.

 

I will quote it here in full:

 

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

 

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

 

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.

“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You’d walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

 

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you.”

 

Application: How do we react when we fall into difficult times. Do we run to God, do we turn to him and call out to him, do we trust him sufficiently to allow him to pick us up and to carry us through OR do we just allow ourselves to fall into a pit of despair, feeling sorry for ourselves and begin to question what on earth is God doing?  We walk through adversity knowing that God is with us.

 

Psalm 121:1-3 ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.’

THURSDAY April 3rd

 

Matthew 14:29

‘He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.’

 

A walk on water

 

We are all familiar with the story from where our text comes from when the disciples were in a storm and suddenly, they see Jesus’ walking towards them on the water and Peter decides he wants to do the same. And Jesus tells him to step out of the boat and to walk towards him. Well Peter steps out, but he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink, and Jesus reaches out to him, saves him and together they get into the boat and the storm ends.

 

Now although I have used this as our text, Jesus isn’t calling you and I to literally walk on water, but he does very often have to call us to step out and to walk in faith. See too often we want to live as Christians in what we call the comfort zone, we are comfortable with the ways things are, with the way that we have always done things and so we are not willing to change, adapt and to do something different or new and so Jesus has to come and to tell us to get out of the boat, to step out of our comfort zone and begin to walk into the God zone.

 

It may be something personal, such as God may have given to you a gift or a talent, and you need to make the initial step of faith to begin to use that which God has given you for the purpose of blessing the church, the first step is always the hardest, you watch a baby begin to walk, he may tumble and stumble, but the more he tries, the easier it becomes and before you know it they are not just walking but also beginning to run.

 

Now thinking back to Peter, at least he stepped out! Think of the story he will be able to share with his children and grandchildren (if he had any). And just think of the story we can have to tell of all that God has done for us as we take the step of faith into the journey that he may be wanting to take us on.

 

Application: Are you willing to step out of your personal comfort zone into the God zone for your life. What about us as a fellowship. Abraham and Moses are two good examples, they had to step out of that which they were familiar and comfortable with to walk into the future that God had planned for them.

WEDNESDAY April 2^nd

 

Proverbs 10:9

‘Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.’

 

A walk in integrity

 

As God’s children we are called be a people who walk this world with integrity, which means with honesty and being a people who are reliable and trustworthy.

 

We seem to be living in times when integrity and honesty are lacking, who can we believe and trust and what can we believe and trust. In fact, it would almost seem to be that sometimes if you want to get on this world, that is to progress to positions of authority then lying is the easiest option. But not for God’s people.

 

Our text says that that the one who makes his ways crooked will be found out, it reminds me of the verse that we don’t hear quoted very often nowadays found in Numbers 32:23 ‘But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.’

 

Integrity should be part and parcel of our lives in every aspect of our daily lives, spiritually and morally, in business and in practise, God has set boundaries and established guidelines as to how we live as his children in a fallen world. Often, we see those around us living in certain ways, which run against God’s standards, as his children, we must choose to reject their morals and their standards and choose to live in integrity, reminding ourselves that whatever we try to hide from others cannot be hidden from God.

 

Application: We need to follow David’s example and continually come before God with this prayer ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’ Psalm 139:23–24.

 

1 Chronicles 29:17a ‘I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.’

 

Psalm 90:8 ‘You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.’

Proverbs 11:3 ‘The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.’

 

Hebrews 4:13 ‘And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’

TUESDAY April 1^st

 

Galatians 5:16

‘But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.’

 

A walk in the Spirit

 

There is absolutely no doubt as we have covered in previous devotions that walking the walk can sometimes be difficult because the enemy of our soul will seek to do all he can by putting things in our way to try to trip us up and to distract us. And in the book of Galatians Paul would sum up some of those things as being to do with flesh. That is the old nature with its ungodly desires. And so, to help combat these things Paul encourages us to walk in the Spirit.

 

In verse 17 he says this ‘For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.’

 

I am making a bold statement here, but I am confident that it is true, whether individuals might want to agree or not, and it is this: ‘It doesn’t matter how long we have been walking the Christian Walk, it also doesn’t matter how spiritual we may consider ourselves to be, we all battle with the flesh every day!’ And God knew how it would be, for until we get to the finishing line and cross over into our eternal inheritance we are in a constant battle. We could describe the battle in many ways, but here it is the battle of gratifying the flesh versus walking in the Spirit.

 

Well, what about an application: We all need to constantly assess where we are regarding living or walking according to the Spirit. Do we give in too easily to those things which would come under the category of gratifying of the flesh? In fact, looking back to the previous devotion and the acronym WWJD is a great help to us if we were to apply it to every area of our lives.

 

If you can make the time, consider reading the whole of Galatians 5, and also Ephesians 5:1-20 at the same time asking the Holy Spirit to point out to you those things that you may be gratifying that are of the flesh, and ask for his help to enable you to walk in the Spirit.

 

Romans 5:1-17 is another portion of Scripture that can help us in this, and here are a couple of the verses.

 

Verses 5-8

‘For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.’

MONDAY March 31st

 

Ephesians 5:2

‘And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’

 

A walk in love

 

It is often the case with the apostle Paul in that he sometimes hits us with something that should cause us to stop and examine our ways. The same also when we consider so much of what Jesus had to teach, for when it comes to the Christian Walk, or faith so much of it goes against what we see as being the norm in a fallen world. That is why we need to allow God to work on us, by his Spirit and through the application of his word to make us more Christlike.

 

And here in Ephesians 5, Paul starts the chapter by telling us that we need to be imitators of God (v1), and then he tells us that we need to walk in love.

 

How are we to measure this love? Humanly we can love some people more than others, we can love certain things more than other things, and our love can oftentimes fluctuate. Well, Paul gives us the standard to which our love needs to measure up to, and it is the standard that Christ set, in that he loved us so much, that is with an immense love that he was willing to give himself up for us. WOW! What a standard, and I readily admit that I often fall far short of that standard.

 

Yes, there may be those who I would do anything for, but others—well I would stop and think about it first! But we as the family of God in our imitating of God, need to learn to walk in love.

 

Now, it doesn’t mean that we must like everything about a person, but we learn to love them despite those things we might not like, for at the end of the day, I would also have to admit that although I may easily find things in others that I do not like, others  perhaps even  more easily will be able to point out things in me that they  don’t like. There is also absolutely no doubt, that when God looked at me before I was a new creation, he saw lots of things about me that he didn’t like, but he still loved me, enough to send Jesus who himself loved me sufficiently to give his own life for me. And to be honest there are probably still lots of things about me that God doesn’t like, but he still loves me! And this is the measure to which we should love one another.

John in his epistle speaks much about the love that should be found in the family of God, and I will add some of those verses at the end, and Peter in his epistle wrote the following ‘Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sin’.

 

If we really want to grow in God, then we need to ensure that love permeates our relationships, we need to love even as Christ has loved us.

 

Application: How is your relationship with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? How about learning to love the ones you find it more difficult to relate to with the same measure of love that you have towards those you more easily relate to.

 

1 John 3:16, 1 John 4:7-12,20

FRIDAY March 28th

 

Luke 24:15-16

‘While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.’

 

A companion for the walk

 

This is a fascinating story, for, as the two were walking along the road to Emmaus, Jesus joined them, although we know that their eyes were kept from recognising him (v16).

 

But later in the narrative, after Jesus had broken bread with them it says, ‘their eyes were opened, and they recognised him’ (v31). They then said to each other ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened up to us the same Scriptures?’ (v32).

 

The risen Saviour longs to walk with each one of us, he doesn’t expect us nor want us to walk alone. Yes, he has given us his word, yes, he has given us the Holy Spirit, yes, he has given us each other as the Church, but he himself wants to be with us, walking alongside us as our companion for the journey. He longs to lead us, to direct us and to be their alongside us ready to pick us up and to carry us through our trials when the going gets tough.

 

The two on the Emmaus Road were so encouraged and inspired by the company of Jesus that they went to report to the others exactly what had happened, see having Jesus with you, allowing Jesus to be alongside you, makes a big difference, for his very presence will fill our hearts with cheer.

 

Application: The two that walked this road in Luke 24 were downcast as they considered the events that they had witnessed over the previous days. And meeting Jesus made all the difference. If you are feeling lonely, downcast, allow Jesus to draw alongside you as your companion and allow him to fill your heart with cheer. Remember the words of the hymn ‘Who can cheer the heart like Jesus?’

 

Secondly, don’t ignore Jesus! What I mean by this is don’t go through your day as if Jesus is not with you! This also adds a further challenge and it is this, if we truly believe that Jesus is alongside us as our companion for the journey, it will cause us to stop and consider so much of what we say, what we do and where we go, remember the fad that was popular in the church a while back, using the initials WWJD ‘What would Jesus do?’

 

Well, ask him! For he walks with us as our companion.

 

Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20b

THURSDAY March 27^th

 

Psalm 119:1

‘Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!’

 

‘A guide for the walk’

 

If you are someone who loves hiking, or like me who just enjoys walking and exploring different places, it always helps, in fact it is essential to have a map to direct and keep you on course. Recently while Elaine and I were in Rome, I had previously purchased a guide, and I usually make sure it is a guide that includes a small pull-out map. When we arrived at our hotel, we discovered they had a map of the city with the hotel marked out on it, so we took a copy to use as it was easier to carry in your pocket. However, after our first day of exploring, I discovered that the placement of the hotel on the map was incorrect, it was not too far out, maybe a few hundred metres, but sufficient to mean that anyone using the map would wonder where exactly the hotel was located.

 

God has given to us the perfect guide, it is faultless, and if we follow its instructions will ensure that we arrive safely at our eternal destination. We need as we have come onto the narrow path to follow what out text says and that is to ‘walk in the law of the Lord’, now, although the word law is used here in Psalm 119, we understand that it is a call for us to walk according to God’s instructions.

 

There are many hazards on our journey, there will be many other voices that will clamour for our attention, there will even be those things which will turn out to be incorrect like the map we picked up in the hotel, so we need to keep checking the map, God’s word, which he has given to us, not only to direct us, but also as a spiritual compass which will enable us to make good, proper and right choices in all areas of life.

 

Application: Are you feeling spiritually lost at this moment? When did you last consult the map, take time today to amend your course, get on the right track that God has prepared for you to walk. For we need to walk in his will and in his ways.

 

Psalm 119:9, 18-19, 33, 44-45, 105

‘How can a young man (young woman) keep his (her) way pure? By guarding it according to your word.’

‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!’

 

‘Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.’

 

 ‘I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I shall walk in a wide place,

for I have sought your precepts.’

 

‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’

 

Isaiah 2:3

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’

 

WEDNESDAY March 26^th

 

Now as we continue with the devotions regarding our Christian walk of faith, I did a brief and very basic study on this subject over 20 years ago when I was pastoring in Suffolk and I am going to adapt and add to those studies for these devotions and so I will present them a little different to my usual devotions in that I will end each one with an application and some further scriptures.

 

Today is ‘Walking the right path’.

 

Isaiah 30:21

 

‘And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.’

 

Once we have got onto the narrow way, we need to ensure that we continue to walk on the right path. And we can consider it this way, each day what way or in which way are you walking, your own way or God’s way?

 

We are living in a busy world, with so much going on all around us, there is so much that is constantly demanding our attention, so much so, that if we are not careful will distract us. It is essential that we keep listening out for the voice of God giving us direction and this could come in several ways, through our personal times of prayer, our reading of God’s word, the internal conviction of the Holy Spirit, even when we are in fellowship with other believers, and as we hear the word of God being preached.

 

We are reminded in the well-known verse Proverbs 3:5-6 that as we trust in the Lord and acknowledge him in all our ways, that is in and with everything that we seek to do, that he will direct our paths. (‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths’) Notice it is not a suggestion, it is an instruction.

 

Application: Are you being distracted from hearing God’s direction for your life? If yes, what is causing the distractions? What must you do to put it right?

 

We can learn from the instruction that God gave to Israel:

 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

‘“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”’

 

You can also turn to and read:

 

1 Samuel 3:1-10, Jeremiah 6:16, Hebrews 12:1-3

 

TUESDAY March 25^th

 

Matthew 7:13-14

‘“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”’

 

The bible has much to say about our Christian Walk, it talks about the walk, it gives advice about the walk and warns us as where not to walk. And as I ended the previous devotion, we start this one with the verse that tells us that we have just two options: either to walk on the broad road which leads to destruction or to walk on the narrow road that leads to life.

 

Durham is a beautiful city, as far as I am concerned it is one of the best, even before we moved up this way, I used to love visiting Durham. A few weeks back I was walking in Durham and for the first time I suddenly noticed a narrow passageway and decided to see where it went to and found out in doing so that it led up to the cathedral area. And guess what, it was quiet, the crowds were going through the busier thoroughfares and very few seemed to have found or noticed this narrow passageway. And this is exactly the way Jesus described what happens in this world, most are on the busy thoroughfares and few on the narrow way.

 

We who are on the narrow way are so because we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour, and although the walk will sometimes be difficult, maybe even feel lonely at times, it will lead us to life, and as we will see, we will have a wonderful travelling companion with us, Jesus himself.

 

So, the next few devotions are intended to help us and to encourage us as we walk this narrow path.

 

I just mentioned that I had suddenly noticed a narrow passageway in Durham, and it takes me back to the moment when I discovered the narrow way, the day that I committed my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and I made the transition from darkness to light, from being dead in trespasses and sins to being made alive again and from changing direction, from the broad way to the narrow way. It is a journey that so far has lasted for 56 years, a walk that every day is bringing me nearer to my eternal home, a walk in which I have needed every spiritual resource to enable me to keep on track. Can I ask you as you read this devotion, which road are you on, if on the broad way then to remind you that it leads to destruction, if like me you are on the narrow way, keep going, keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus, fixed on the eternal hope that you have now received of arriving one day in the presence of our wonderful Saviour.

 

Here are a couple of other verses to end this devotion.

 

Proverbs 5:21

‘For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.’

 

Isaiah 2:3‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’

MONDAY March 24^th

 

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 5^th 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.