Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

FRIDAY March 7^th

 

We are remaining in the Old Testament again today as we go to a well-known Psalm that uses the word prepare, and it is the great Shepherd psalm, Psalm 23 and we will read it all:

 

‘The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.’

 

It is there in verse 5 ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.’

 

We have an incredible Shepherd, if I stopped at that it is enough, but we continue, he it is who is constantly leading us, feeding us, caring for us and watching over us. The whole psalm speaks of all that he is daily preparing for us, so much so that we will not be wanting; he has prepared green pastures, still waters, paths of righteousness, comfort, anointing, an overflowing cup, the house where we will dwell forever. But the word ‘prepare’ slips into verse 5 and reminds us that he prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Now how often do we read this, and stop and wonder what it means?

 

I looked at a number of commentators as to how they see this and there were a variety of answers, but I want to make a suggestion, and mine is only one among the others, that we are privileged as those who are born again and as those who know Jesus as our Saviour to come and feast on his pleasures of delight, to pull ourselves up to a spiritual table where he the Shepherd is willing to feed us.

 

Now it could be a picture of this present age, that daily we should, we must, we need to come to the table he has prepared for us, and we are surrounded by our enemies, which / who are anything and everything and anyone that goes against who we are as God’s children. And as we come to the table the powers of darkness stand back, and they see us feasting at the table. But the challenge is this, the table is prepared for us, but do we pull our chair up to it on a regular basis, do our enemies see us feasting or do we fail to get our daily spiritual supply of food because we are not seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. For it is as we hunger and thirst that we will desire to come to the table and be filled with righteousness.

 

But then in the Psalm it chronologically comes after we have gone through the valley of the shadow of death and could also point to a wonderful feast that is being prepared for us in heaven, a feast that is for all who are going to enter the house of the Lord forever. Heaven is going to have a party! It is going to be the party of all parties, and I want to be there, I want you to be there, so pull up your chair to the table and receive all that God has for you through the Lord Jesus Christ.

THURSDAY March 6^th

 

Now today, I am going to take us to an Old Testament miracle that took place, and it required a lady to prepare a meal by faith. It covers a few verses, 1 King 17:8-16.

 

‘Then the word of the LORD came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.’

 

Now, the word prepare does appear in this story and it is in verse 12 where the widow tells Elijah that she is about to prepare one final meal for her and her son before they would die, because they would have nothing left as they were living during a great famine upon the land.

 

But Elijah challenges her to go and to make a cake, but not for herself, but for him, but then says after you have done that then make a cake for you and your son. ‘Hang on Elijah’, I can hear her thinking ‘haven’t you heard what I have said, there isn’t enough!’ But Elijah tells her to not fear but to do what he asks for the Lord will cause that the flour would not run out and the oil would not be empty until the Lord brings the drought in the land to an end.

 

This was a real test of the widow’s faith, firstly on the surface, faith in this prophet called Elijah, but more importantly faith in the God in which this prophet trusted.

 

‘Am I going to prepare just for my son and myself, or will I trust and believe in the word of God and prepare for the man of God as well. More so for the man of God first and then myself!’

 

Now we can learn so much from this miracle, it causes us to challenge our faith to believe that when all seems hopeless and that we cannot see beyond the next few moments, God is in control, for the widow it was all about the next meal. For you and I, it may be the next something else, but I see here a lesson that I have never noticed before and it was that she needed to prepare for the man of God before she prepared for herself, and I want us to look at it this way, that as we make our daily preparations, as we plan our day, as we plan anything and everything that we need to do for ourselves that we need first to prepare our lives for God, it is all about putting God first, presenting ourselves before him saying ‘Lord whatever I have to fill my day with today, help me to prepare in such a way that in it and through it all I am bringing glory to you, allow me to put you first before I seek to satisfy myself’.

WEDNESDAY March 5^th

 

Now, as I continue with the word prepare, some of the scriptures will not actually have the word prepare in them, but will have a connotation that should prompt us to preparation, and today I take us to some verses from Luke 21:34-36

 

‘“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”’

 

I have already mentioned our need to be prepared to meet with God, and that Jesus is preparing a place for us, and we know from that same scripture that Jesus will come to take us to be with him, for he is coming again (John14).

 

Now the words from John 14 and from our text today in Luke 21 all fall into the conversations that Jesus had with the disciples before he went to Calvary, and he is giving a warning that we need to be prepared for when he comes again.

 

Matthew has recorded more of the conversations that Jesus had, and in particular with the parable of the ten virgins, where the whole theme of this parable is for the need of being ready or prepared for Jesus coming again, and in chapter 25:13 he records Jesus saying these words ‘Watch therefore, for you do now neither the day nor the hour’.

 

I mentioned in the first of these devotions that there are those things I prepare for more than I would for other things, and perhaps as Christians we are guilty of not ensuring that we are preparing enough or even prepared enough for the sudden return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can almost live as if we have forgotten that he is coming again, or even as if it is not going to happen, and so we get all caught up with so much that this world has to offer rather than ensuring that we have our lamps, using the analogy from Matthew 25, trimmed and burning.

 

Now, within the context of this devotion it doesn’t matter how we interpret where and when everything fits into the chronology of the return of Christ, the thing that matters the most is that we are prepared and  ready and not getting weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life but rather that we are looking up, raising our heads, for our redemption is drawing near.

 

As we read in Hebrews 9:28 that Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Are you prepared for and waiting for his return?

TUESDAY March 4^th

 

We are turning to another use of the word prepare in the word of God today and it is from John 14, and we will read verses 1 through to 6.

 

‘“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

 

I have chosen to look at this immediately after the verse from Amos 4 ‘Prepare to meet your God’, for we have a wonderful promise contained in these verses that tells us that Jesus is preparing a home in heaven for all those who have responded by faith and made sure that they have prepared for their appointment to meet God.

 

Proper preparation gives the best results! For those who fail to prepare in this life the consequences for them when they meet with God will be devastating, and the lack of preparation will mean that when that moment arrives it will be too late, but for those of us who have come to faith and entered into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ the future is amazing, for Jesus is preparing something that is spectacular and out of this world for each one of us, and what is even more special that after standing before God, and remember it will not be through any merit of our own, but because of the cleansing power of the precious blood of Jesus, we will enter into his eternal presence, we will spend eternity with our God and with our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ . . . and yes with each other so we better make sure we are getting on with each other now!

 

Now, many consider all of this to be pie in the sky, wishful thinking, often referred to as a crutch to get us limping through this life, but to us who have come to believe and to respond by faith we have an inner assurance, the witness of the Holy Spirit that our hope is an eternal hope, and as Jesus is preparing heaven for us, then we wait with anticipation, looking for that blessed hope, the appearing of our wonderful Saviour and Lord.

 

As you read this devotion do you have the assurance of salvation, have you made yourself right with God, do you know with confidence in your heart that at this moment in time there is a place being prepared for you in heaven. You can have the assurance, and you can know this hope by giving your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ.

MONDAY March 3^rd

 

I began to prepare for a new series of devotions a couple of weeks before I send them out, and so I am staring at a blank screen, wondering in which direction to go! I had typed the dates out for the whole of the month of March, and the word that came to my mind was ‘preparation’. For as I write the devotions, it requires a lot of preparation time, as I move from one devotional thought to another.

 

Then I thought a little more about the same word but not just regarding my preparing of the devotions but for each one of us with life in general. We must spend so much time in preparation, preparing for our day, our week, we prepare for our meals, we prepare for going away on a holiday, we prepare for family and friends to visit etc. Now, I can only answer for myself, but the amount of time I set aside in preparation is usually determined according to what it is I need to prepare for. With some activity, I prepare far less and sometimes do not prepare at all. For example, when it come to the garden, there are some things I prepare in advance for, and other things that I will just go out into the garden and do spontaneously.

 

I thought about the times where the word prepare or similar appears in the word of God, and one occurrence immediately came to my mind and it is found in Amos 4:12 and used to often be found on Church notice boards and on display where street evangelism was taking place, the whole verse reads (remember I use the ESV) ‘Therefore this I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!’

 

Now in its context it is specifically a word to the nation of Israel, but in a wider context it is a word to all of mankind, and the posters would read just those five words ‘Prepare to meet your God’.

 

It is a solemn warning that one day we will all have to stand before the presence of Almighty God as we also read in Romans 14:10 and as it says in verse 12, we will have to give an account of ourselves, ‘For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.’

 

There is another scripture 2 Corinthians 5:10 that reads ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.’

 

This is serious, and it is very clear that it includes all of us, not one of us will be able to escape standing before Almighty God, but what we can do is to make sure we have prepared for that day, and we do so firstly by coming to the One who died to bring us into a right relationship with God and into a right standing before God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then to take us to another  Old Testament Scripture that we know so well to keep coming to the place where we allow God to search our hearts in the here and now, so that any grievous way in us is dealt with so that we remain in a right and proper relationship with him. (Psalm 139:23-24)

 

Prepare to meet your God, it is an appointment we cannot change, postpone nor cancel, but we can make sure we have prepared for it.

FRIDAY February 21^st

Well as I conclude this series I also have to say, as in the quote from the previous devotion, ‘Oh I wish I could describe him to you.’ I have made an effort to share something about our wonderful Lord and Saviour, and my heart’s desire is that each one who has read these devotions and contemplated along with me all about Jesus that we have come to love him more dearly and allowed the sweetness of who he is to fill our breast.

Jesus, the very thought of Thee

With sweetness fills my breast;

But sweeter far Thy face to see,

And in Thy presence rest.

 

Jesus, our only Joy be Thou,

As Thou our Prize wilt be;

Jesus, be Thou our Glory now,

And through eternity.

 

I am going to conclude this series with the words of a hymn:

Christ triumphant, ever reigning,

Saviour, Master, King!

Lord of heaven, our lives sustaining,

hear us as we sing:

Yours the glory and the crown,

the high renown, the eternal name.

 

Word incarnate, truth revealing,

Son of Man on earth!

power and majesty concealing

by your humble birth:

Yours the glory and the crown,

the high renown, the eternal name.

 

Suffering servant, scorned, ill – treated,

victim crucified!

death is through the cross defeated,

sinners justified:

Yours the glory and the crown,

the high renown, the eternal name.

 

Priestly king, enthroned for ever

high in heaven above!

sin and death and hell shall never

stifle hymns of love:

Yours the glory and the crown,

the high renown, the eternal name.

 

So, our hearts and voices raising

through the ages long,

ceaselessly upon you gazing,

this shall be our song:

Yours the glory and the crown,

the high renown, the eternal name.

 

Psalm 104:34

‘My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.’ (KJV)

 

Devotions will resume with a new theme on Monday March 3^rd.

THURSDAY February 20^th

Psalm 104:34

‘My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.’ (KJV)

 

Referring to the sermon I heard back in 1993, (see February 17^th) I remember the speaker using a phrase to describe Jesus and I since found it on the internet, he was quoting just a small part of what became a well-known quote from a Calvary Baptist minister, Dr. S.M. Lockridge.

I am going to quote it in full for our devotion for it expresses for each of us that have come to know and to love the Lord Jesus Christ something of who he is, It is called ‘He’s my King.’

“He’s enduringly strong, He’s entirely sincere, He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful. He’s God’s Son. He’s the sinner’s Savior. He’s the centrepiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He’s unparalleled. He’s unprecedented. He’s supreme. He’s preeminent. He’s the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest idea in philosophy. He’s the fundamental truth in theology. He’s the miracle of the age. He’s the only one able to supply all of our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick, He cleans the lepers. He forgives sinners, He discharges debtors, He delivers captives, He defends the feeble, He blesses the young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent, He beautifies the meek. Do you know Him?

Well, my king is the king of knowledge, He’s the well-spring of wisdom, He’s the doorway of deliverance, He’s the pathway of peace, He’s the roadway of righteousness, He’s the highway of holiness He’s the gateway of glory, He’s the master of the mighty, He’s the captain of the conquerors, He’s the head of the heroes, He’s the leader of the legislators, He’s the overseer of the overcomers, He’s the governor of governors, He’s the prince of princes, He’s the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Well. I wish I could describe Him to you. But He’s indescribable. Yes. He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible, He’s irresistible. I’m trying to tell you, the Heavens cannot contain Him, let alone a man explain Him. You can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hands. You can’t outlive Him, and you can’t live without Him. Well. The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him. That’s my king!

He always has been, and He always will be. I’m talking about He [who] had no predecessor and He [who] has no successor. There was nobody before Him and there will be nobody after Him. You can’t impeach Him, and He’s not going to resign. We try to get prestige and honour and glory to ourselves, but the glory is all His. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, and ever, and ever, and ever. How long is that? And ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and when you get through with all of the forevers, then ‘Amen’.”

“Oh I wish I could describe him to you.”

WEDNESDAY February 19^th

Triumphant

Since I prepared these devotions, I have been to Durham Cathedral to listen to Handel’s Messiah, and I think that there is something unique about this great musical work as it takes us through the prophecies concerning the One who was to come, then to his birth and passion and finally to the climax with these words taken from Revelation chapter 5:

‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing, and honour, glory, and pow’r be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.’

It then finishes with the magnificent ‘Amen’ chorus.

And this is a good place for me to be concluding (two more devotions to go) this theme that I have taken us through of ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast’.

HE IS TRIUMPHANT! Yes, we remind ourselves that his name will be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sin, and in fulfilment to the prophet Isaiah, and in accord to the will of God the Father we read,

‘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 suffered and died on our behalf, but thank God the story continues, after dying and being buried he rose again triumphant! As we read in Colossians 2:15,

‘He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.’

 

He is exalted; he has been given the name which is above every other name. He is Lord to the glory of God, and we look forward to the day that because of his triumph we too will be raised to life that is imperishable, and immortal, the time when the saying that is written will come to pass, ‘“Death is swallowed up in victory”, “O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

TUESDAY February 18^th

Continuing from the previous devotion, I am not going to go through each of the five words that I recalled the conference speaker using all that time ago but want to consider two of them. Jesus is great as our Advocate and Jesus is great because he is Triumphant. Now, if I manage to find the original recording and find out that I have not remembered the correct words that he used, it doesn’t matter for what I am sharing is equally true, so first is that we have a great Advocate.

Now, quite often we use the word advocate to refer to the activity of the Holy Spirit as Jesus said he would send another one as an Advocate to come alongside us, John 14:26 (NIV), the ESV uses the word ‘Helper’, which was my theme last Sunday morning, but the same disciple who wrote that gospel also wrote three short epistles and he writes in the first ‘My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’ 1 John 2:1.

We have a great Advocate and his name is Jesus, he represents us before the Father, and he is called Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the greatest advocate that this world will ever know and needs to know. The Hebrew writer grasped the wonder of this as we see in the following verses, another way to understand it is that he not only comes along side us to help us, but he also stands alongside his Father who has also become our heavenly Father, to plead on our behalf, to interceded for us:

Hebrews 2:17-18

‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.’

Hebrews 7:25

‘Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.’

Hebrews 4:16-17

‘Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’

Today if you have a difficulty, a problem, maybe even feeling alone, helpless, then call out to your great Advocate, he is more than able and more than willing to come alongside you to help you and to carry you through, he is ready to dispense his grace and mercy to help you in your time of need.

MONDAY February 17^th

As we start another week, I am continuing the theme of Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast, and as I was pondering which direction to go, I thought back to a convention that I attended way back in the early part of the 1990’s and the theme for the week was Jesus is. Now I do not remember anything about the week except for one sermon that was given by a man who if I remember correctly was called Leonard Albertson or something very similar who had come across form the USA. He took for the theme of his message ‘Jesus is GREAT’ and then used each of the letters from the word great to define something about Jesus.

I do have a copy of the recording somewhere, I will have to try and dig it out, but I do recall him saying that which the subject of the conference being ‘Jesus is . . .’ then the conference could have gone on and on and on as we could never ever uncover all there is to know about him. And as I have sought to bring these devotions based on something of who Jesus is and the thought concerning Jesus bringing sweetness to our lives, it seems that I could also go on and on . . . because he is so incredible and amazing.

Now that time back in the 1990’s the speaker used (if I remember correctly) the following words to describe something about Jesus:

Jesus is GREAT because he is:

G – God

R – Redeemer

E – Energiser

A – Advocate

T – Triumphant

Well, I am going to take us right back to the time when the angel announced to Mary concerning the birth of Jesus and to Luke 1:31-33,

‘And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”’

There in this announcement are the words ‘He will be great . . . and of his kingdom there will be no end’.

I guess if we were to draw up a list of those who we would consider to be great, we would all come up with different answers according perhaps to what our interests are.

Those interested in politics would choose who they think has been the greatest politician, for those interested in sport, the greatest sportsperson, and we could say the same with the greatest actor, the greatest inventor, the greatest in the field of medicine etc. But whatever the list there is none so great as Jesus! ‘He will be great’, the angel said, and today, some two-thousand years later we say, ‘He is great’ and ‘he will be eternally great’ therefore we should be eternally grateful for all that he has done for us. I never will cease to praise him.

Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,

great David’s greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed,

his reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression,

to set the captive free;

to take away transgression,

and rule in equity.