Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

THURSDAY May 15^th

 

Genesis 8:22

‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’

 

I couldn’t move on from the flood account without looking at this verse, for it clearly show to us that God is in control over all that he has created. The flood was an obvious indication that God is in control regarding mankind, although man thinks he oversees his own destiny, he couldn’t be more mistaken. In just ten generations man was so utterly depraved, with the intentions of his heart being continually evil and so God stepped in. I mentioned while speaking on a Sunday evening recently about reset moments and this is one of them. Sadly, we will see how it was not very long before the sinful intentions became apparent again, but a part of this reset was the establishing of what we call the four seasons to allow the cycle of life to continue. And God has been continually faithful, despite the ongoing depravity of mankind.

 

It is summed up in the words of the well-known hymn that itself draws from Lamentation 3:22 ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness’. The hymn says:

 

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

 

And because of his mercy and love God set a bow in the cloud as a sign of a covenant between himself and the earth. The covenant was that he would never again send a flood to destroy all flesh.

 

But this doesn’t mean that God will not deal with sin nor the sinner! No, instead he sent his Son into this world to give the opportunity to all men and women to come to a place of repentance, to turn from their sin to serve the true and living God and since the day of the flood, and ongoing especially since the time when Christ died and rose again, God is acting with patience not willing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. But the day of God’s amazing grace will one day end and this will usher in the day of God’s vengeance and wrath which will be poured out on all who have failed to believe.  Just as we have seasons on this earth, so there are seasons in God’s plan and purpose, today is the day of salvation, the seasons of his mercy, grace and favour. If you have not yet repented and asked Jesus into your life, then do it today, while there is still time, before this season of grace is over.

 

And one last thing—the bow that God placed in the clouds has been hi-jacked and misused to represent the sinful and depraved sexual deviations that we see in our modern society. This is not something new, it happened in the days of Abraham and Lot and God will not be mocked, as he punished then, so he will one day punish all who have rebelled and acted in ways that go against the standard that he set regarding marriage and sexual relationships. The bow in the clouds which we call a rainbow was and still is God’s sign, and those who have abused it and misused it like every other sinner, which includes each one of us needs to come to repentance.

WEDNESDAY May 14^th

 

Genesis 8:20-22

 

‘Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”’

 

The first thing that we read that Noah did on leaving the ark was to build an altar and make a sacrifice to God. Imagine it for yourself as if you had built the ark, herded all the animals and creatures onto it and then watched as the earth was flooded and everything outside of the ark destroyed and then suddenly dry ground appears, and you walk out as one of a few who had been saved from the devastation. What would have been the first thing you would have done?

 

Well, God has saved us from the devasting curse and punishment of sin, he has given us a new start and a hope that is eternal, and our number one priority should be to give God thanks, and we do so by building an altar and laying our lives upon it in total surrender to him. He should and must be our number one priority as we allow him to not only be our Saviour but Lord in our lives.

 

Before Noah entered the ark he was told to take on board seven pairs of the clean animals and the birds of the heavens, they may easily have produced young while in the ark, but whatever, God had ensured that there would be sufficient numbers of them so that when they left the ark some could be used for sacrifice and then the remaining ones for reproducing and replenishing the earth.

 

I want to stretch our imaginations a little, God has given us the gift of time, and he has given us sufficient time of which we must use it wisely. Our time is like the clean animals and birds, as Noah ensured that sacrifice came first we must use our time FIRST for the glory of God, and the rest we can use for those things that are pertinent to our being godly men and women who go about doing that which is necessary for life to continue, family, work and pleasure.

 

In the Noah account, it says that the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma—does God smell a pleasing aroma because of the way in which we order our lives?

 

A couple of scriptures:

 

Romans 12:1-2

‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’

 

Ephesians 5:15-17

‘Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.’

TUESDAY May 13^th

 

Genesis 8:9-10

‘So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. . .’

 

I mentioned in the previous devotion that the olive leaf speaks of peace (as did the dove) how often have we heard the phrase that someone has held out the olive branch, which is representative of wanting to reach out to someone to repair a broken relationship, to allow peace to be restored where discord as caused a fracture. As the one who is the Prince of Peace, God offers out to mankind if I can respectfully put it this way an olive branch, and his name is Jesus. Outside of Christ we have a broken relationship with God, there is discord because back in the Garden of Eden the fellowship and harmony that existed between man and God was fractured.

 

If you are reading this devotion today and have not accepted Jesus as your Saviour, then the olive branch is still being reached out to you. God loves you, Jesus loves you, so much so that he was willing to reach out to you by coming into this world and dying for you on the Cross at Calvary, today Jesus reaches out to you and says to you, ‘Come to me and receive forgiveness, receive eternal life, know what it is to have peace with God and to know the peace of God guard your heart and your mind.’

 

Second thought today is that it is from the fruit of the olive tree that we get oil, olive oil. Once we have accepted the olive branch and made peace with God, he is also willing to give to us the oil of the Holy Spirit. (incidentally the Holy Spirit is also represented at the baptism of Jesus by a dove!)

 

Oil is used in Scripture to anoint, specifically it is used to anoint individuals into office such as a king, but more generically it is a reference to being anointed by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus in Luke 4:18 said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and the reason was that the Spirit had anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor and so much more (verses 18-19). And we too need the oil of anointing, we need the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon us and to fill us to enable us to live effectively as those who have become born again by the Spirit of God.

In Psalm 23:5 the Psalmist says that the Lord who was his shepherd anointed him with oil so that his cup overflowed. It is only as we are anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit that we can truly know what it is to be overflowing and out of that overflowing God can and will use us to reach out and to be a blessing to others.

 

Let us learn what it is to be emptied of anything and everything that counts for nothing so that in its place we can be anointed and filled by the Holy Spirit.

MONDAY May 12^th

 

Genesis 8:6-12

‘At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.’

 

These verses speak of the goodness of God in that although he intentionally flooded the whole earth, he also intended for it to replenished again. It had rained for forty days and then the flood waters prevailed for another 150 days.

 

Then Noah opened the window and sent forth a raven, then a dove which returned having not found anywhere to settle, then seven days later he sent the dove out again and when she came back, she had in her mouth a freshly picked olive leaf.

 

From the depths of the devastation of the flood there was hope, there was a sign of new life, the opportunity for a fresh start. And verses 18-19 tells us that Noah and his family plus all that had filled the floating zoo went out of the ark.

 

In keeping with the theme we have a little ornithology, two birds mentioned by name for the first time, a raven and a dove and the mention of an olive leaf, another tree. The dove and the olive tree speak of peace. And the olive also speaks of oil. And it is as if God is speaking peace into what had been a world that was in turmoil because of the depravity of sin, and God through the Lord Jesus Christ speaks his peace into our lives once we have been delivered from the turmoil of sin. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2 that in Christ Jesus we who once were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, he himself is our peace, and the peace brings us to a place of complete reconciliation to God as our heavenly Father. It was a brand-new start for Noah and his family, and in Christ who has become our peace we too have a brand-new start. How have we received this new start, by going through the door. Just as Noah stepped out through the door of the ark into the newness of life, we have stepped through Jesus who is the door and in doing so we are saved, and we will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9).

FRIDAY May 9^th

 

We move forward a few chapters in Genesis today to chapter 6. From the creation of Adam has been the succeeding generations, ten altogether that has taken us to the time of a man called Noah. And from the initial disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, sin has spread and like a canker worm has affected the whole of society. This is what God saw and what he said:

 

Genesis 6:5-7

‘The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”’

 

Imagine how God must have felt, we who have children know how we feel if one of our children does something wrong, it hurts us, especially when we have given to them all they need to be able to live well. And God had given so much to humankind and yet the cancer of sin permeated everything. It was a desperate sorry state. But then we have verse 8 ‘But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD’. There was one man who God was pleased with, and it was Noah, and God acted with grace and favour towards him and his family. Verse 9 describes him this way ‘Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.’

 

But why have I included it here in devotions based on agriculture and horticulture? Well, we know the story, for Noah and his family and for seven of every clean animal and the two of every other kind of animal, beast, creeping things and bird of the air to be saved it was going to require some trees, for an ark was to be built out of gopher wood.

 

So far, we have read about the two important trees in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we read about the trees that Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves among from God, and now trees are going to be required to provide the wood that once assembled into an ark would be the means of salvation.

 

Now I wonder how many types of trees are mentioned in scripture. Have a guess, I will put the answer at the end of this devotion.

 

So, Noah gets busy, in fact the ark is going to be so big, it needed to be as it was going to be a floating zoo, that its length would be the same as nearly one and a half football fields (510ft) and as high as a modern four-story house (50ft). If you visit the ark encounter website (www.arkencounter.com) they suggest it would have been big enough to carry at least 112,500 sheep—that is big! So, it was going to take up a lot of Gopher wood to make it.

 

But build it he did, however long it took, he kept going, until God gave the instruction for the animals to be herded in and Noah and his family to get on board, and then God shut the door.

 

Up until that time Noah would have warned those around him of the impending judgement of God upon the world, but it would seem that no one heeded, for it was only Noah, his wife, the three sons and their wives that entered the ark, once God shut the door it was too late.

 

There are wonderful lessons to be learnt from these Old Testament stories, and here it is that today, we are living in the day of God’s grace and favour. Another tree had been taken, and from its wood a cross was formed, on which our Saviour died. One day the door of opportunity will be shut, and then it will too late for anyone to come to salvation, as it says in 2 Corinthians 6:2 ‘Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation’ and in Hebrews 4:7 ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’

 

Jesus said, ‘I am the door, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture’ John 10:9.

 

An internet search gives the answer to my question as being 36 different types of trees being mentioned in the Bible.

THURSDAY May 8^th

 

Genesis 4:2 ‘Now Abel was a keeper of sheep’.

 

We move into agriculture today and I find it interesting that one of the first breed of animal or species to be mentioned by name in the word of God is sheep. In the first chapter of Genesis it is collective language, living creatures, birds that fly, great sea creatures, livestock, creeping things, beasts, fish of the sea. Then, Adam in chapter 2 was tasked with the responsibility of naming them all and then when we get to chapter 3, the serpent was named as a species among the many beasts of the field, so that counts initially, (except that we would consider the serpent as being the devil in disguise) but when we come to chapter 4 sheep are named.

 

Can we see something portrayed here? The serpent represented the devil, evil, wrongdoing, sin. The sheep reminds us of the One who would come as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world as recorded in John’s gospel, 1:29 ‘The next day he (that is John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’

 

Sheep are also symbolic of you and me, for the scripture says that ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way’, and the same verse continues to say, ‘and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Isaiah 53:6. This means that our sin, that is the sin of the sheep (plural) that have gone astray has been laid upon the sheep (singular) who was the Lamb who willingly became our Passover Lamb.

                

The whole language and use of the term sheep in scripture is wonderful, as it also portrays those of us who have become the children of God, for we are reminded in Psalm 23 that we have a Shepherd, and just as Abel was a keeper of sheep, so is the Lord. As our Keeper, he leads us, he feeds us and he meets our daily needs, he is not just our keeper in this life but is with us as we pass through death and into eternity.

 

The word keeper is a great word, obviously here in our text it means that Abel was a shepherd, which means he kept sheep. My dad was a keeper of sheep, and it was a job that required a lot of hard work, especially during the lambing season to be up at all hours, because being a keeper meant that you needed to watch over and to care for the sheep.

 

As our Keeper, the Lord is constantly watching over us and constantly caring and providing for us. In Psalm 121:5 we read this little phrase ‘The LORD is your keeper’, consider the same phrase as ‘The LORD is your shepherd’, and remind yourself that as a shepherd, he is a good Shepherd as we read in John 10:11.

 

Well, there are many other occasions where sheep are mentioned in the scripture, and we will come to some of them again.

 

But for today, if you are still one of the sheep that is still astray, the good shepherd is ready to welcome you into the fold, come to him and accept him as your Saviour and Lord.

WEDNESDAY May 7^th

 

As we move forward with my horticultural / agricultural devotions, we jump to the very next chapter in Genesis, chapter 3 and verses 1-16 although I will only add some of the verses into the devotion:

 

Firstly, verse 2 ‘Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground’, so we have a farmer and a gardener, agriculture and horticulture.

 

In verses 3-4a we read ‘In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.’

 

So far so good, they still had time for the Lord God, and they both brought an offering before him, one from the fruit of the ground, the other the fat portions of the firstborn of the flock. But the response that they each had from God, speaks volumes concerning the rightness of their personal relationship with God, for from the second part of verse 4 through to verse 5 we see that the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but not for Cain and his offering.

 

At first we may think that God was being a little ungrateful, even harsh in his response, but I am pretty sure that in past conversation with dad and mum, Cain and Abel would have heard the story concerning the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and of their parents own attempts to cover up their sin with the fruit of the ground (fig tree leaves) in comparison to what God had done in providing animal skins. God making it abundantly clear that only one sacrifice would be sufficient. Was it fruit or a life, and it is far easier to give up a few bananas, apples or oranges than to sacrifice or to give up the life of an animal. But only one is acceptable before God, and it is the one that costs the most, the one that requires the shedding of blood.

 

What a wonderful picture again of the means of our eternal redemption, it is our own efforts, our own works versus the sacrifice of a life, and God will only accept the one, and it is definitely not my own effort or my own good works, nor yours,  for they count as nothing, instead it cost the life blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Now, we need to be challenged here, today, we are not expected to give to God via a blood sacrifice, because Jesus has done this on our behalf, and he has done it well and he has done it once and for all of time. But the lesson we learn from Cain and Abel is that we need to be giving to God that which he requires and not what we think we should give. See if it was left to us we would give as little as possible and try to get away with as little as possible, but God requires us to make the sacrifice of giving up our own desires, giving up on following or pursuing what we would personally love to be doing and to surrender our lives to him wholeheartedly, that is lock, stock and barrel.

 

It is summed up well in the words of the hymn, ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross’ the last line says this ‘Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all’.

 

Jesus put it this way talking to the lawyer, in fact it is exactly what God had said to the Children of Israel, ‘And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”’ Luke 10:27.

 

Are we guilty of trying to get away with as little as possible, the easy option like Cain, or are we willing to pay the cost of following Jesus, like Abel giving of our very best.

TUESDAY May 6^th

 

Genesis 3:24

‘He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.’

 

Imagine having the best job in the best garden and blowing it! Yet this is what Adam did! And to me this is one of the saddest verses in the whole of scripture, after having been given such a great responsibility, with top-notch working conditions, which included fellowship every evening with God, Adam along with Eve are driven from out of the garden. To use a modern phrase, they were sent packing. And then God placed the cherubim and a flaming sword at the east of the garden to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

Prior to them being sent packing, God had spoken to them, and pronounced the penalty for their disobedience and it was that they would die, immediately they died spiritually and sometime in the future they would die physically. The ground was cursed, and it would now produce thorns and thistles and there was so much more which you can recap over by reading Genesis 3:14-19.

 

But God didn’t let them leave the garden without giving a prophetic hint that what had taken place in the garden would one day be undone, he, that is God made for them garments of skin and clothed them. Why is this prophetic? Well, to get the animal skins, blood would need to be shed, an animal slaughtered to enable them to be clothed, to cover their nakedness and their shame. What a wonderful picture of the provision that God would one day make for the whole of the world, for because Adam sinned we also have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but in the fulness of time, God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who would become the lamb who would lay down his life, and in doing so, he would shed his blood to bring about the remission of sin, forgiveness from sin and what is more would enable us to be clothed in his righteousness! See our own righteousness is on a par with the fig leaves, insufficient for us to be able to stand before God, we are not saved through or by any of our own effort it is not by works, but by the righteousness that comes through our believing faith in the Son of God which is sufficient for us to be able to stand before God as justified.

 

And there is more good news, whereas we see access to the tree of life has been barred in the Genesis account, because of what Christ has done for us, one day we will have access to the tree of life as we read in Revelation 22:14 ‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.’

 

Incidentally as well, because we are about trees in the devotions now, the scripture says that ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’, (Galatians 3:13) and Jesus hung on a tree, he became a curse on our behalf so that the curse of sin and the sting of sin, which is death may be taken away.

 

Now, if access has been granted again to the tree of life, does it mean we will all be gardeners in heaven! How amazing would that be, and there won’t be any thorns, thistles nor weeds! I can see myself, busy tending the gardens and hear myself whistling or singing to the song of praise ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’

FRIDAY May 2^nd

 

Genesis 3:6-7

‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.’

 

The beautiful garden is about to be spoilt, now that seems bad enough, but something worse was about to happen, humanity was about to be spoilt, sin enters the world. We can argue about whose fault it was, I say it was Adams fault, because although it was Eve who took the fruit from the tree, it was to Adam that God had given the direct instruction saying not to partake of it, and he was there as it took place. He should have spoken up, but no, he allowed Eve to partake and then he partook himself. But more obviously of course that Adam was the head of humanity, and in 1 Corinthians 15:22 as an example, the blame is placed fairly and squarely on him where it says that ‘For as in Adam all die. . .’

 

And immediately they knew that they had done wrong for suddenly their eyes were opened and they realised they were naked, shame fell upon them, and they sought to cover the shame by sewing fig leaves together.

 

Now, we don’t know how long they had enjoyed the garden before this took place, they had obviously learnt some skills, otherwise they would not have known how to sew, but from this point forward life was going to be different, for they heard a noise, and it wasn’t a rustling tree, it wasn’t one of the birds they usually enjoyed listening to chirping alongside them as they tended the garden, it wasn’t even the sound of one of the beasts or the animals, it was in fact a sound that a little while back they would have enjoyed, but not this time, they heard the sound and became afraid. It was the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God.

 

Now this series of devotions are horticulturally and will also be agriculturally based, and here we see that they hid themselves among the trees of the garden.

 

It was partaking from the fruit of a tree that had gotten them into trouble, and now they think that hiding among the trees was going to save them from even more trouble, but they were soon going to learn some important lessons. You cannot disobey God, and you cannot play hide and seek with God! And we too need to learn the same lessons. God requires our obedience, and we need to learn that we cannot hide from God, and we certainly cannot hide anything from him. Although God called out to Adam and Eve to ask them where they were, he knew already, for he is an all-seeing and an all-knowing God, but he was giving them an opportunity to own up!

 

May this be a reminder for us today, that God knows all about us, the open sin and the secret sin! He knows the very thoughts we are thinking, he even knows the words that we are going to speak before we even utter them, the Hebrew writer says this in 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.’

 

We may be trying to hide behind metaphorical trees, or by sewing together metaphorical fig leaves, by saying things such as ‘everybody does this, so why can’t I’, or ‘we are living in a different society, things have changed’, but God’s truth stands forever, God’s standards are non-negotiable, he demands, he has the right to demand that we live in obedience to him and to his word.

 

Are you hiding from God today! As he calls you out to you today, come from out of the trees and allow him to help you to deal with those things that need to be put right so that you (and I speak to myself) therefore we, can walk humbly and right before our God.

THURSDAY May 1^st

 

Genesis 2:9

‘And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’

 

Two trees that stood out from all the other trees in the Garden of Eden, one called the tree of life, the other called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is later in chapter 2 that we read the instruction that God gave to Adam concerning one of these trees, it is in verses 16-17 ‘And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”’

 

It was after this instruction that God created a helper for Adam, but before this happened, Adam had the task of giving names to all the livestock, beasts and birds then God caused Adam to go into a deep sleep and from one of his ribs he formed a woman and presented her to Adam.

 

This is what Adam said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’ (v23).

 

There then follows a divine pattern that stands for the history of time ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed’ (vv24-25) Jesus himself repeated it in Matthew 19:4-6 ‘He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”’

 

Marriage was God’s idea, and it is still is. Despite the ideology of mankind today and the so-called redefining of marriage and relationships, God’s pattern is the pattern that we must follow as the family of God. The coming together is that of a man and woman, not same sex couples, and the becoming one flesh, the union of a man and a woman takes place once they are married and not before. God set these standards for a very good reason, and it was to maintain purity in sexual relationships and to produce the environment of a home in which to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (Genesis 1:27-28) and as we see later to bring a family up in the ways of the Lord. (Psalm 127:3, Deuteronomy 4:4-7)

 

So just as we saw a few devotions ago the need to pray for the protection and the sanctity of human life, we also need to pray for the sanctity of marriage and the protection of God over families. Consider praying today for the families of our fellowship that God will bless them and that the children will come to the place of salvation.