Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY September 4^th

 

Revelation 1:3

‘Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.’

I am staying in the first chapter again, because in mentioning some of the verses in our previous devotion, I didn’t take us to the verses that show to us the vison that John had received of the risen Lord Jesus which caused him to fall at his feet as though dead (v17).

 

Here is what is written in verses 12-16

 

‘Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.’

 

I recall speaking on these verses when I first started pastoring the church in Sudbury, Suffolk and a little while afterwards a lady in the church gave me a picture to look at. She had gone home and had drawn on paper what she saw depicted here in these verses. Now, I don’t know what happened to the drawing, but it was evident that as I had opened the Scripture that evening something was activated in her life concerning something of the wonder of who Jesus really is.

 

And as we look briefly at some of the verses linked to the seven ‘blessed’ statements here in Revelation, it should lead each one of us to a fresh wonder concerning Jesus and a fresh longing or desire for more of Jesus. Now, thankfully as I spoke on that occasion the lady concerned didn’t fall down in the Church as though dead, but I do know that it caused her to make sure that what needed to be put to death in her life was put to death, because seeing something of Jesus in a fresh way caused her to want to live more for Jesus and less for herself.

 

I wonder if we today need to have a fresh vision, revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we too will put to death once and for all those things that are not conducive to living for Jesus. I ended our previous devotion by taking us to the fifth chapter and quoted the words that declare ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain’, and these words too came after John had had another vison of Jesus, it is in verse 6 where he says ‘I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain. . .’

 

Remember the initial verse is all about being ‘blessed’. What tremendous blessing is available to all who allow their eyes to be opened to see Jesus. We may not see him in the same dramatic ways that John did here in these incredible visons, but we need to see him as the only one who has been given to this world to be the Saviour of the world.

 

I will quote the words of a hymn.

 

Give me a sight, O Saviour,

Of thy wondrous love to me;

Of the love that brought thee down to earth,

To die on Calvary.

 

Oh, make me understand it,

Help me to take it in;

What it meant for thee, the holy one,

To bear away my sin.

TUESDAY September 3^rd

Revelation 1:3

‘Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.’

As I was preparing these devotions, I felt that I couldn’t move on without reminding us of some of the wonderful truth that is found in this first chapter. For tit reminds us that we have a living and powerful Saviour! Yes, he died, but the wonder of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is that after being buried and sealed in a tomb he rose again triumphantly. Now, I am jumping ahead a few verses here, but after John had his incredible vision of Jesus, it says that John fell at his feet as though dead (v17), but Jesus spoke to him these words ‘“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”’

What does this say to us? Well, beside the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead and is still very much alive and is for eternity, it tells us that he has triumphed victoriously, and therefore as the mighty victor, the powerful conqueror, he is in charge! He holds control over all things, my life, your life is in his hands, this world and its future is in his hands and the powers of darkness as powerful as they may seem to sometimes be, are under his control. He has defeated death, he has defeated the devil, he has broken the power of sin. He holds the keys!

But before these verses, we read these words from verse 5-6 ‘To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.’

What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Jesus!

What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord!

 

He has loved us, with such an incredible, powerful love, he has freed us from our sins by his blood, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’, he has made us a kingdom, we have become priest to his God and Father, therefore as we wonder concerning our wonderful salvation, we say ‘to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.’

 

Now literally as I was writing the previous paragraph, I heard a song that I had never heard before which tied in so well with what these verses are all about, here are the words.

I’m the Lamb that was slain

And my blood washes you clean

I’m the pure sacrifice

Let my life give you life

I’m the Lamb

We cry, worthy, we cry, worthy,

We cry, worthy is the Lamb of God

You’re the Lamb that was slain

And your blood washes us clean

You’re the pure sacrifice

Let your life give us life

You’re the Lamb

You’re the Lamb

 

It causes us to jump ahead (well me anyway) to Revelation chapter 5 and verses 12 and 13

 

‘“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing! . . . To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!”

MONDAY September 2^nd

Revelation 1:3

‘Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.’

What we call the book of Revelation, is a Revelation of Jesus Christ, (See 1:1) it is a book that is all about Jesus and the things that are to happen in the last days.

The future, that which is yet to happen in God’s programme for this world is a continuing programme of all that he is unveiling and doing in relation to his programme of salvation which is only to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 1:2 we read that in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son. So, God spoke 2000 years through his Son, and in the 2000 years that have followed, God is still speaking through his Son, and in the final days, the days that we read of in this book of Revelation, God will still be speaking to the world through his Son.

At Calvary he spoke to the world in love, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’, and God is still speaking through his Son, his love is still available to all who are willing to come and accept him. But when we get to the book of Revelation, we see how God is speaking his judgment upon this world through his Son.

Now, I wonder how often we turn to the book of Revelation, I wonder how often we may avoid it because it seems to be ‘too complicated’, or maybe because we have heard so many different interpretations of what it contains that we find it ‘too confusing’. Put all that to one side for a moment and then reset your mind to see it as a book that is a revelation of Jesus Christ, the incredible revelation has been given to us to help us to ensure that we are ready for whatever is next in God’s programme which he is working out through the plan of salvation that is available only through a personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is important, reading and keeping what is found in this revelation, will bring to us  blessing! ‘Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.’

It would indicate a present blessing, that is as we heed the words we ensure that we apply it to our lives now and will be blessed, and as we keep the words, it implies as we remain faithful we will be blessed as what is written comes to pass, and I personally believe that it also points to our being eternally blessed for we will be safe in the presence of Jesus as the wrath of God which we read of in this book is poured out upon the world that has rejected both God the Father and Jesus his Son.

FRIDAY August 30^th

I think it would be fair to say that we are all aware of the ‘Blessed’ statement which we call the beatitudes in the gospel of Matthew and chapter 5, even if we were unable to recite them all by heart. There are 9 of them altogether, and here they are, and I have kept the verse numbers in.

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

But are you aware that there are seven ‘Blessed’ statements in the book of Revelation? We truly are blessed people as we come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, yes, Jesus talks of the possibility of persecution as we stand up for the sake of righteousness, but the reward for doing so is out of this world, we are assured of access into the kingdom of heaven. The ‘blessed’ statements in Revelation are all attached in some way to our being faithful and our being willing to persevere in this life as we head toward that which is to come. And so next week I will begin to take us through the seven statements in Revelation, but to whet your appetite, if you want a preview of the verses, here are the references.

Revelation 1:3, 14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, 22:14.

THURSDAY August 29^th

2 Chronicles 7:17–20

‘And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’ “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.’

Following on from the previous devotion, I decided to read on down through the passage from 2 Chronicles 7 and as I looked at these verses, the LORD God gave a challenge which was two-fold, 1) ‘If you will walk before me’, then there would be blessing, compared to 2) ‘But if you turn aside and forsake’, there will be consequences, even to the point of being cast out of God’s sight.

We cannot play fast and loose with God. We must either choose to live all out for him or not at all! I mentioned it a few times awhile back, that the Lord Jesus cannot accept lukewarmness, we are either for him or against him. (Revelation 3:16)

I guess that most who make an initial commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ have every intention of living all out for Jesus, but too often, and so easily we can get distracted, we can take our focus off him and lose something of the initial desire and love for him and all that he demands from us. But the consequences of taking our eyes off Jesus and of our deliberately forsaking his ways are serious, therefore we need to keep focused, as we are reminded by the Hebrew author,  ‘. . . let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’,  Hebrews 12:1–2

Maybe someone is reading this devotion today, and sometime in the past you gave your life to the Lord Jesus Christ but you are only really following him from a distance, you are more focused on what this world has to offer, you are easily distracted by all the pleasure and that which the devil has made look attractive to your eyes, spend some time redirecting your focus, not on the transient things of this world, but on the eternal promise and the eternal hope which is for all who remain faithful and steadfast.

‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified’, 1 Corinthians 9:24–27.

WEDNESDAY August 28th

2 Chronicles 7:13–14

‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’

I prepared this devotion, at the beginning of August, during the week when the awful attack took place in Southport which led to three innocent children being murdered. I readily admit that I feel a lot of anger at this moment, with the things that are taking place in our country. Now, you will have to have been hiding over the last year or two if you haven’t noticed the rise of lawlessness, disorder, crime etc in our nation, and I am going to be a little political, have you noticed how so much of it has been blamed upon those who are considered ‘right wing’ in their political beliefs, as if those who are left wing or centrists do not need to take any responsibility.

Well, I think that we all need to take some responsibility, for as a nation we have rejected God, we have rejected the moral standards that are found in his inspired written word and we have decided that we can live how we want, promote whatever we want, regardless of how depraved and wicked it might be (take for example the scenes at the opening of the Olympics in Paris) and we expect to get away with it and we have to accept that truth is a matter of personal opinion, therefore we are supposed to embrace all and let live.

What is the answer? The politicians will tell us that it is all about diversity and tolerance, but I (we) as those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ cannot blindly accept all and sundry, for we know that it is essential that we seek out that which is truth, we seek to live according to that which is truth, and we are to shun that which is opposed to truth.

But what is truth? What is the truth? Well, I answer that truth is that which springs from the heart of the true and the living God, for he is the God of truth, in fact he is the only God, all else are but gods, conjured up by man’s imagination or crafted through the workmanship of those who carve them out of wood and stone. Truth is also that which has been revealed through the word of God and been made manifest in this world through the Son of God, who himself declared that he is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, who I am and what I am willing to accept is based upon my biblical understanding of truth. That is my standard, not what any politician or statesman or ideology would seek to inform me.

Therefore, as we see the downward spiral of our nation, in fact, of the western world, the text that I have started with today came readily to mind. As we who trust in God, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who love the truth, who love to seek after righteousness we must seek the face of God and humbly ask that he will have mercy upon our nation yet again.

TUESDAY August 27^th

Well, I am back with the devotions, after our two-week break.

Today is Elaine and my 41^st wedding anniversary, and it only seems like yesterday when we were celebrating our 40^th anniversary at the Church, and afterwards getting stuck at Newcastle Airport from 2pm on the Sunday as firstly a hurricane in Majorca postponed our flight, and then a computer glitch shut down all flights causing havoc till, we eventually departed on the Monday evening at 6:30pm! Our four-day break becoming a less than three-day break.

What on earth has that got to do with a devotion? Well, we will remember that even more recently a computer glitch caused havoc to the worlds trading, and again brought travel disruption all around the globe. Have you noticed that even though we may not (or some may not) use technology on a large scale, how dependent we have become upon it. The sad thing is that major stores and banking institutions are using it to their advantage to close banks and expect us instead to use apps on our phones, or in the case of supermarkets, to close tills where you have a till assistant to do all the totting up and force you to go self-service. (Although I have read recently, that some supermarkets are making the choice to revert) But what if the computers go down, what if the app crashes, we are stuck!   Now of course this is all a part of the push to globalism, where eventually we will all be controlled, and eventually after the Church has been taken up will lead to the introduction of the mark of the beast, which we read of in the book of Revelation, whereby without the mark whatever form it may take, men and women will not be able to buy and sell. So, let’s make sure we are ready for when the call comes to take us up into his eternal presence.

But I want this to lead us to remember that a computer glitch, although it may cause disruption in our everyday lives, cannot cause disruption with our relationship with God, our spiritual lives. We don’t need our computers, mobile phones, landlines or broadband to get in touch with God, we just need to call out to him! So, a couple of verses to encourage us towards our daily contact and fellowship with our heavenly Father.

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to me and I will answer you.’

Psalm 91:15

‘When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him.’

Luke 11:9–10

‘And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.’

Hebrews 4:14–16

‘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.’

FRIDAY August 9^th

 

Ephesians 6:21-24

‘So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.’

 

Paul not only sought to encourage the believers in their faith, to be strengthened and able to withstand all the enemy sought to bring against them, he also wants them to be blessed and so he desires for them to know as he writes here, peace and love with faith from the Lord Jesus Christ. He identifies that the source of all blessing is from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He then says to them ‘Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible’.  He had already commenced the letter with the words, ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1:2)

 

I want us to think of it this way, the grace and the peace and the love of God bookend our lives, they hem us in, keeping us secure in our relationship and fellowship with the triune God.

 

But Paul ends this letter with those important words, ‘who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.’ The Amplified puts it this way ‘with undying and incorruptible love’,

 

This is a reminder that God has loved us with everlasting, perfect love. He didn’t wait for us to attain a level of righteousness before he accepted us, he sent his Son, who died for us in the state we were to be found in, vile, depraved, sinners. Such was his love for each one of us, that he deserves nothing else in return but the very best that we can give, and the desire for everyone who has been born again by the Spirit of God, who has been washed, cleansed in his precious blood, who knows what it is to be forgiven and have been saved for eternity should be that we love him back with undying and incorruptible love.

 

To me as I think of it, incorruptible love means that we love him wholeheartedly, we remain 100% faithful to him alone. I spoke recently with my headliner being ‘say what I mean and mean what I say’. If I say, ‘I love you Lord Jesus with all of my heart’, then I must mean it, and I must demonstrate it by forsaking everything else that would cause my love to be diminished in any way that would corrupt it.

 

In computer language, a computer can become corrupted by a virus, and software is required to find out what the virus is, to be able to get rid of it, before it does untold damage. May we each examine our hearts, our lives, our walk with our wonderful Saviour to see if there is anything that is causing our love for him to become corrupted, may we even cry out the words of the psalmist, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, (anything that is corrupting my love for you) and lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Psalm 139:24)

 

‘Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.’

 

THURSDAY August 8^th

 

Ephesians 6:21-24

 

‘So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.’

 

We have covered the verses concerning the armour of God, but for the last couple of days for this week, I am going to add a few thoughts from Paul’s closing remarks as he ends this letter to the Ephesians. I am on holiday from Saturday for two weeks, so we will return with a new theme afterwards. For today the words ‘that he may encourage your hearts’ then tomorrow the final blessing.

 

As I commenced these devotions back in November last year looking at the life and the ministry of Paul, we will have seen that beside fulfilling what Jesus had commissioned him to do, which was to carry his name to the children of Israel, to the Gentiles and to Kings, Paul also gave much of his time over to encouraging the believers and the churches. Evident of course from the letters he had written to them, which we also benefit from ourselves today.

 

As a result, by taking us through the devotions each week, my purpose right from the very start way back in March 2020 was firstly to encourage us as we traversed through the period of Covid-19 and I have by God’s grace and with his help, continued to do so since then and so far, this is devotion number 1086. I trust that you will have been encouraged, and still are being encouraged, I personally have been encouraged and strengthened myself as I have prepared them. But the ministry of encouragement is not specific to the pastor or an elder or those who have positions of responsibility in the church, it is a ministry that we can and should all be doing, encouraging one another as we seek to mutually support one another in the faith.

 

When did you or I last encourage someone, maybe, it is possible that there are those who we fellowship with that we have never given a word of encouragement to, maybe we don’t even say hello to them when we gather together, because we are busy with other things, or talking with the same ones each week, we can so easily just send a little message, text a verse, even a few smiley emojis to let them know we are thinking of them and to brighten up their day.

 

Think of someone today who you could just send a little encouragement to, I like to think that Paul was always thinking of others, ready always to give that word of encouragement. In our text today beside the letter he had written to encourage them, he was also sending Tychicus to encourage them even further. Think about it, he wrote so many of his letters while he himself was a prisoner, he could have just spent his time feeling sorry for himself, but no, he sent not a few words, but whole letters full of encouragement.

 

 

WEDNESDAY August 7^th

 

Ephesians 6:19-20

‘. . . and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.’

 

I have returned to these verses again for as I took the four words yesterday ‘and also for me’, I want us to consider more specifically what it was that Paul wanted the church to prayer for him. It was ‘that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel’.

 

If you took the four words yesterday ‘and also for me’ I wonder what your request would have been, or mine. There would have been many various applications, but I am sure that everyone of us beside any personal application we may have made would also need to say, ‘and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel’.

 

Paul wanted to continue to be obedient to the call that the Lord Jesus had given to him, which was to take his name to others, for Paul it was a specific call as we have seen from Acts 9:15-16, but we too have a responsibility to take and to share the gospel with others.

 

One of the hymns I was brought up with as we would attend the missionary prayer meeting once a month is found in the Redemption Hymnal:

 

For my sake and the gospel’s go

And tell redemption’s story;

His heralds answer. “Be it so,

And thine, Lord, all the glory!”

They preach his birth, his life, his cross,

The love of his atonement,

For whom they count the world but loss,

His Easter, his enthronement.

 

I close this devotion with the words of another song,

 

Tell the whole wide world of Jesus,

Bear the news from shore to shore;

Telling sinners of the Saviour,

Let the light spread more and more.

 

To which we should be willing to reply;

 

Yes, we’ll send the joyful message

Over mountain over wave,

Telling everywhere of Jesus,

And his mighty power to save.

 

‘‘. . . and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel’.