Category: Devotions

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Daily Devotion July 11th

SATURDAY 11th

John 1:14

NIV  ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

ESV ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

We come today to a verse of Scripture that would easily list in my top ten Bible verses, ‘the Word became flesh’, three words that make an incredible statement, that the second person of the trinity, became a man, God became a man and came to live among mankind.

John is returning to the subject matter of the first verse, ‘the Word’, who in the beginning already was, that is he is eternal, and who was with God, that is co-existing and who was God, that is co-equal, and has now become flesh, that is has become a man. This is so essential in our understanding of who Jesus is, in that while he was fully God, at the same time he became fully man. 

When the Word became flesh, (remembering the Word is referring to the Jesus) he did not cease to be God, but he humbled himself as we read in Philippians Chapter 2:6-7 ‘. . . Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.’ And the reason the Word was willing to do this was, (and I list several reasons which are all linked to his redemptive work, and it is a far from exhaustive list)

  1. Because God loved the world
  2. Because God sent him
  3. Because he was willing to come
  4. Because he was presenting himself to be the sacrifice for sin
  5. Because he was going to become the one who would redeem and reconcile man back to God
  6. Because he was going to conquer sin, death, and the grave
  7. Because he was going to do what nothing else nor no one else could do
  8. Because he came in the flesh, to live as a man, to die as a man representing  man, and to be raised as a man, so that he could be victorious as a man, could ascend as a man, so  that there would be a man in glory who has been where we have been, yet without sin and be able to save all who come to him by faith and to intercede on our behalf

Paul continues in Philippians 2 with ‘And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

There is so much more that could be expounded upon from the wonderful truth that springs from the wonder of the Word becoming flesh, but the ultimate wonder of all is that as a result of God leaving heaven and becoming a man and living on earth, and dying as Saviour, and rising again, etc. we who believe (which was the purpose of John’s gospel) will have life in his name and as a result we will one day go up to where he came from, and what a day glorious day that will be!

The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is an important part of our Christian faith, it is what marks true Christianity from the cults etc. For we need to have a correct theology of Jesus. We will look briefly at this in our next devotion.

For today, be blessed and encouraged by the good news that because the Word became flesh, there is now a man in the glory, interceding on your behalf.

Romans 8:34 ‘Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.’

And remember what we read in Philippians 4:5-6 ‘THE LORD IS AT HAND, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.’ 

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Daily Devotion July 10th

FRIDAY 10th

JOHN 1:11-13

NIV – ‘He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’

ESV – ‘He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.’

In the preceding verses 6-8 we have John the author writing about another John, John the Baptist ‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light.’ John is describing the role of John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, he had come to bear witness concerning the Word, who was the light that had come to shine in the darkness, John the apostle is making it clear that the Baptist was not the light, but was bearing witness that the true light was about to come. It is interesting that when the Baptist does introduce Jesus later in this chapter, he does not introduce him as the light but as the Lamb! We can see the Baptists’ role in verses 19-28 (which I will not be including in my study) ‘And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No. So they said to him, Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said. (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, Then, why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?  John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.  These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing’ and then we have v29 ‘The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’

In verses 9-13 the Apostle John continues his unveiling of who the Word was. He starts by saying ‘The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.’ (v9) The world had descended into spiritual darkness as a result of the fall, darkness is used in Scripture to represent the fallenness of humanity, the depravity of man’s sinfulness,(John 3:18-19 ‘Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil’)  it is used in contrast to the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of light, but there was some good news, some much needed news, the true light was coming, to bring light into the darkness. Later in the gospel, John would show to the reader that Jesus had declared himself to be the ‘Light of the world’ (John 8:12) but at first as John continues in these verses in chapter 1 we are reminded that the true light had come, yet the world (which he had created) did not know him and those who were his own did not receive him, (Israel) but the good news that comes out of it all was that ‘. . . to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God . . .’ (verse 12) There was definitely something spectacular about the true light, and yet not all would welcome the light, not all would receive the light, but those who did, received a welcome into the family of God.

At this point we have hardly got into the first chapter of the gospel, and yet we have some incredible news, if we are willing to accept who Jesus the Word is and believe on his name, this involves coming out of darkness into the light, we will not only have life, but we will become the children of the living God. Let this sink in today if it has not already, as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has become your heavenly Father. I touched on this a couple of weeks ago, but sufficient to say today, we can call him ‘Our Father’ and he is pleased to call us his ‘sons and daughters’.

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Daily Devotion July 9th

THURSDAY 9th

John 1:1-5

NIV – ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’

ESV – ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’

We come now to the beginning of John’s gospel, and to the opening verses which are contained within John’s prologue which is from verse 1 through to verse 18 in which John introduces us to Jesus.

Matthew commences his gospel by introducing Jesus through his earthly genealogy, going back to Abraham. Mark by introducing Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, Luke takes us to the birth of both John the Baptist and Jesus being foretold by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah (for John) and Mary (for Jesus).

John in his introduction goes right back to the beginning, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ In fact, although the word beginning is used here, the idea is to take us into eternity past, before time began.

Immediately, although he does not use the name Jesus till verse 17, he lets the reader know that Jesus is God, importantly, not a god but God. ‘. . . and the Word was God.’ (v1). Of equal importance is Johns introduction of the Word as already being with God, (‘ . . . and the Word was with God’) he was with God as God at the beginning. Before time began, the eternal God existed, and thus also existed the Word, who we see later in the gospel to be the Son of God, therefore he the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ is the ‘eternal Son of God’. There has not been a specific moment in which Jesus became the Son, he always has been.

John then announces that it was through the Word that all things were made, and without him was not anything made; thus we see the co-operation of the Godhead in the creation of the world.  We know from Genesis 1, that it says, ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’ (v1) V3 tells us that ‘the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the earth’. And now John tells us that the Word was there as well, thus creation is the work of the Godhead, the triune1 God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In his epistles, Paul also ascribes creation through the Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6 ‘ . . . yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.’ Also, in Colossians 1:16 ‘For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.’ And the Hebrew writer as well, Hebrews 1:2 ‘ . . . but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.’

John then makes another important statement about the Word in verse 4 ‘In him was life, . . .’ He himself is life, he is the source of created life and he came into the world to give us life, new life, abundant life, eternal life, resurrection life, as we discovered from the earlier devotions. This is the Word, this is the eternal Son, this is Jesus, the Christ, the one who is our Saviour.

Now, we could suggest at this time, that we are stating our belief upon Jesus and his deity  on the words of a fellow man, the apostle John, but we will see that what John has declared is also verified by Jesus himself. We discover that as time had unfolded through the record of the Old Testament, as we see one generation pass to another, Jesus already existed. Later in the same gospel, Jesus would make an incredible statement about himself at a time when the Jews were disputing with him, they said to him, ‘are you greater than our father Abraham who died?’ To this Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!’  (John 8:53,58) By using the words ‘I am’ to describe himself, Jesus was declaring  himself to be equal with God, for he was giving himself the very title or name that God had used in telling Moses who he was way back in Exodus 3:13-14 (‘Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’)

This Jesus is our God!

1 Triune God / Trinity – The word trinity is not found in Scripture, this does not mean that it is a false concept, it is simply a word that has been used to help us understand the tri-unity of God, that God exists as one God in three persons, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, also known as the Godhead. Some Scriptures where we see the three persons of the Godhead together are: Mark 1:9-11 at the baptism of Jesus, he as the Son is in the water, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven. Also in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 concerning the gifts, variety of gifts but the same Spirit, (the Holy Spirit) varieties of service, but the same Lord, (the Son) varieties of activities, but the same God (the Father) See also: John 14:16-17, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 Peter 1:2.

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Daily Devotion July 8th

WEDNESDAY 8th

John 3:36

(NIV) ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.’

(ESV) ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.’

As we continue from yesterday, this verse shows to us the importance of believing in the Son. As I said yesterday our decision is the difference between spending eternity in Heaven in the presence of God or spending eternity in hell, eternally cut off from God. Now, I am aware that I am writing these devotions for us as a Church family and we know the things that I am sharing, but we need to regularly go over what we believe and why we believe so that we don’t just fall into a place of complacency and take what we have and who we are ‘In Christ’ for granted.

It has cost to bring us salvation and to grant us eternal life, and as a result we should have hearts that are constantly and continually grateful for all that God has done in Christ Jesus, and for the incredible sacrifice he made on our behalf.

Today we will consider what has been made available to us – life! Our text calls it ‘eternal life’ We see it again throughout the gospel of John, in John 3:16, ‘eternal life’, in John 20:31 the text we started with on Sunday it is called ‘life in his name’, In John 10:28 it is called ‘abundant life’.

Ephesians 2:1 tells us that outside of Christ we were dead – that is spiritually dead – cut off from God because of our sin and transgression, but in Christ we have been made alive, because by grace which is through faith we have been saved, made alive – spiritually alive, and the life that is given to us at salvation is eternal, abundant life. If you are saved, you are more alive today than you were on the day in which you were born, because on that day, although you were physically alive, you were spiritually dead. But now in Christ Jesus you are spiritually alive as well.  

In John’s gospel we have some important verses concerning this ‘life’ which is available through Jesus. It is only available through him, John 14:6 ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’, that is he himself is life, which comes out in his analogy in John 6 when he calls himself the ‘bread of life’. (vv35,48) In verses 51 and 54 of John 6, Jesus says that mankind must partake of him as the ‘bread of life’ to be able to receive eternal life. Therefore, the teaching of Scripture is crystal clear that there is no other source with which we can go to, to receive eternal life. Echoed though the preaching of Peter in Acts 4:12 ‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’

Reminding of ourselves of where we started on Sunday with John 20:30-31 ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’  I will conclude this three day introduction by bringing us to a place where we give thanks from grateful hearts, for the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us, and who by the wooing of the Holy Spirit has drawn us to himself, bringing us to that place of believing faith and the receiving of life which should be causing us to be rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory for the half as never yet been told! (italic from the hymn, ‘I have found his grace is all complete’)

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Daily Devotion July 7th

TUESDAY 7th

John 3:16

NIV – ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

ESV – ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’

I have chosen to go to this verse from John’s gospel today to link it with the verses we had yesterday in John 20:30-31. ‘‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ Both references are linked to our need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, which as we discovered yesterday was John’s reason for writing the gospel.

Believe(s) and believing are key words throughout this gospel. You may remember that when I came to Emmanuel Pentecostal Church to speak for the first weekend in September 2019, the theme that I shared was based upon the statement, ‘What we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ is important.’ This is the whole emphasis of John’s gospel, because what we believe, and how we act upon what we believe depends upon whether we receive the life that is offered. It is not just a case of believing in Jesus, it is believing that he is the Son of God, which will lead to life. Tomorrow we will consider the word ‘life’ in this gospel. For today we will consider the words believe and believing.

We have all been brought up in world in which we have been told a mixture of stories, some are factual, others are fiction or fable, known as fairy stories. It is amazing how the world of fiction, fantasy and fable has captured the worlds imagination, leading to multi-billion-pound enterprise especially in the world of film and theme parks. The world is fantasy mad and happy to live in cloud cuckoo land. What the world needs is a good dose of reality and truth, because the world of fantasy leads to a dead end, it may give temporal pleasure but offers nothing for eternity. Reality and truth as found in the gospel of John (as also in the entire word of God) leads to eternal life. And to receive the eternal life that is on offer we need to believe that what John has written is truth, for the one he has written about is truth himself. (John 14:6 ‘Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. . .’)

There are at least four things we need regarding believing.

  1. We need to believe we are sinners – sadly the world is so utterly depraved that we are living in unprecedented times when wrong is now considered right, which is a massive stumbling block toward mankind recognising what sin is and that he is a sinner.
  2. We must believe that we need saving / salvation
  3. We must believe that Jesus is the only Saviour
  4. We must believe on Jesus, that is to put our faith and trust in him to be saved

Believing is so important, for not to believe leads to hell, eternal destruction, but to believe leads to eternal life. How we respond is the most important decision we will ever make.

The word believe appears in John’s gospel 48 times, believes 14 times and believing two times. If anyone wants to go through the various references, I will place them at the end of this devotion1, but this amount of usage in one Bible book alone is sufficient for us to understand the importance of believing in Jesus. Our text for today tells us that that is why Jesus was sent into the world, 1) because God loves us 2) he wants us to believe in his Son 3) and as a result we will not perish but will have eternal life. Later in his gospel John records the words of Jesus himself ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.’ (John 10:27-28)

You tell me of any other book that reveals such wonderful and powerful news, there isn’t, for it is in this book alone (the Word of God) and in particular linked with our devotion from the book of John that we can discover the wonder of the truth of a God who loved us enough to come and to live in this world and to give his life as a propitiation for our sin. John wrote later in one of his letters ‘In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation2 for our sins.’ (1 John 4:10)

Dwell on this thought today, that God loved you so much that he sent his Son to die for you.

1 References for believe(s) believing – Jn 1:17,50 – Jn 3:12,15,16,18,36 – Jn 4:21,42,48 – Jn 5:24,38,44,46,47 – Jn 6:29,30,35,36,40,47,64 – Jn 7:38 Jn 8:24,45,46 – Jn 9:18,35,36,38 – Jn 10:25,26,37,38 – Jn 11:15,25,26,27,42,48 – Jn 12:11,36,37,39,44,46 – Jn 13:19 – Jn 14:1,10,11,12,29 – Jn 16:9,30,31 – Jn 17:20,21, –  Jn 19:35 – Jn 20:25,27,31

2The word propitiation carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him. This Christ has done through the means of his sacrificial death at Calvary. See also Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17 and 1 John 2:2 (ESV, NKJV, KJV) (The NIV uses the words atoning / atonement)

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Daily Devotion July 6th

MONDAY 6th

John 20:30-31

NIV  – ‘Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

ESV – ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

At the end of his Gospel, John lets the reader know why he has written it, ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God’ and as a result of believing the reader will have life in his name.

I cannot think of any better or more necessary reason to write a book than to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to bring them to a place of believing in him. I love books, the one thing I am missing most because of our possessions being in storage for such a long time is my books! I cannot wait to get into our house and amongst other things to be able to unpack my books and have access to them again. But of them all whatever the genre of them, the Word of God is the most precious. The world is full of books, there are libraries around the world that contain thousands upon thousands, publishers are publishing them continually on just about any and every subject matter; reference, factual, fiction, instructional, helps, guides etc. Today we can have them in printed or digital form. But of all the books there is one that stands head and shoulders above every other and it is the Word of God, because as we read in Hebrews 4:12 ‘. . . the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

The Bible is a collection of 66 individual books, and John’s gospel falls within the New Testament and classified as what we would call a gospel account. I personally think that John’s gospel is one of the most significant books contained within the most significant book! And why, because as John himself says it is written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ and in knowing we may have life in his name. The most important thing for any person today is to come to know Jesus and to have life in his name, and what better way to get to know him than by reading the gospel of John.

As we go through the devotions, if anyone is reading them and as yet you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, can I encourage you to read through this gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten you concerning Jesus and your need to know him as Saviour, and for those of us who do know him, may we get to know him better, more intimately, more deeper and in a way that we will be able to talk about him more freely to those who need to know him.

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Daily Devotion July 5th

John 1:1-18

As we embark into a new week, I am going to change slightly the format of the devotions, from tomorrow, I will include the text Scripture in two versions, the New International Version and the English Standard Version which is the one that I most commonly use. If I quote verses within the devotion, they will continue to be from the ESV unless otherwise stated. I will no longer be adding a song at the end, but occasionally I will put some further notes at the end of a devotion.We will commence this week to look at the first chapter of the  Gospel of John, although to begin with we will look at some later chapters as an introduction

Introduction

The Gospel of John was written by the apostle John, who was one of the disciples of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee, and was a fisherman, along with his brother James. (Matthew 4:18-22 ‘While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.  And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.) He also wrote the three epistles under his name 1, 2 & 3 John and the book of Revelation. (Revelation 1:1-2 ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.’)

Although John is a main character during the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, he seems to be the member of an inner circle that had special privileges such as being on the mountain at the time of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17)  but when we look at the book of Acts, John seems to take a less prominent role compared to Peter and Paul. We do read of him, when he along with Peter went up to the temple in Acts 3 which records the healing of the lame man, this narrative continues through into chapter 4. We read of John with Peter again in Acts 8, and the next and final time he is referred to is on the occasion when his brother James was killed by Herod. (Acts 12:2) The other ‘Johns’ referred to in Acts are John the Baptist and John Mark.

The gospel of John is different to the other three gospels, in that they (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are called ‘synoptic’ gospels. This means they give an account of the life and ministry of Jesus with a similar view. John differs in that unlike them he does not concentrate on the miracles, parables, and teachings of Jesus in the same way, but instead concentrates on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is said that in his gospel John covers 90% of unique material.

But thank God that he did concentrate on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is from this gospel that we glean so much about the Lord Jesus , who came as God’s Son, to bring about the whole work of redemption. My prayer is that as we go through this gospel, we may be blessed all over again with the wonder of who Jesus is and in the wonder of our salvation.

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Daily Devotion July 4th

SATURDAY 4th

Psalm 105

This is now the 105th devotion, my computer that I am using to type out the devotions says that up to the end of this devotion I will have used 108,784 words, this includes the songs I have included at the end of each one and it is 308 A4 pages. If I remove the songs it comes to 94,208 words. That is an average of 897 words per devotion.

The devotions have been sent out via email or text message to 47 contacts, which are reaching an even larger number of individuals, printed and posted to three more and has been posted every day on WordPress which has had 457 views over the period of time and a devotion has been read at least once in 2 countries, more than once in seven and over 390 times in the UK. The countries reached have been UK, Philippines, USA, Hungary, India, Russia, Pakistan, South Africa, UAE, Australia and Romania

At the same time, the weekly videos which we eventually got up and running have been reaching additional listeners. So the Church may have been in lockdown, in that we have not been able to gather together, but we have still had a voice in the world around us, and along with every other effort that has been made by Churches around the world, the gospel has continued to be shared, the Word of God has continued to be preached and taught and many needs have been met. To God be the glory.

In the Psalm which I have obviously chosen because it is the only chapter 105 in Scripture, it starts by saying ‘Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!’ I trust that when we do return to gather together that we will rejoice when we hear of the deeds the Lord has been doing among his people during what has been a lengthy and difficult time, for in it all God has been faithful, he cannot be anything else, because it is one of his characteristics.

V2 continues ‘Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!’ at the moment it would seem that the ongoing restrictions will prevent public singing, but in our hearts we can sing and rejoice.

The whole subject of this Psalm is of how the Lord has worked out his plan and purpose for the nation of Israel through slavery, exodus, and arrival into the land promised, it is a song that declares the goodness of God, his covenant keeping promises and his fulfilling what he intended to do, through whatever the circumstances may have been in which the Children of Israel found themselves in.  

We need to constantly remind ourselves that God is in control, he wasn’t caught unaware when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and through the months in which we have gone down a road that we have never been before, God has been with us, individually, collectively as families, locally as a Church family and universally as the Church which is the body of Christ. He has been continually working out his purpose, as Job says in Job 42:2 ‘I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’ God is in control.

Way back as it now seems to be on Sunday March 22nd, the Scripture that I used to commence these devotions was Psalm 147 ‘Great is our LORD, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.’ We may not fully understand the way that we have had to go during these last few months, but God knows, we trust him, and as we slowly come out of the lockdown, and as the restrictions will be eventually lifted, we will move forward as a local Church, strengthened and renewed in our determination to be the local Church that he wants us to be as we seek to reach the community around us.

Thank you for your prayerful and encouraging support during this time toward one another as a Church family. As we start a new week, from tomorrow I will be taking a slighter different route with the devotions and will concentrate on bringing some devotional thoughts from the gospel of John.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with thee;

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not

As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed thy hand hath provided

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

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.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

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Daily Devotion July 3rd

FRIDAY 3rd

Psalm 1

There is a sense in which this short psalm follows on with the same thought that yesterday’s devotion was all about, being different as believers, and it does except for the fact that chronologically it comes long before Paul wrote his Roman letter.

This has always been one of my favourite psalms, I have probably only ever preached from it a handful of times, but what it has to say has often come up in my preaching. My grandfather was a lay preacher, and a retired elder in the local Church which I also attended where I was the leading elder, and he always had words of encouragement to give me and supported me in every way. I asked him if he would like to speak in our mid-week Bible Study and he did, he was around 90 or 91 at the time, and had suffered a couple of small strokes and I remember him getting up and he preached note free from this short psalm. But what I can say about my grandfather is this, he lived or practised what he preached!

This psalm is a challenge to all of us who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, are we living out what we claim to be? Are we practising what we preach?

It is linked with yesterday’s devotion because it is all about our being different to unbelievers in the kind of lifestyle that we have. It is connected to those who we choose to walk with, stand with, or sit with, or rather those who we choose not to walk with, stand with and sit with!  Psalm 1:1 ‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers . . .’

The word ‘blessed’ is linked to verses 3-4 and 6, for what we decide in regard to verse 1 and 2  leads to whether or not we are like a tree planted by streams of water, fruitful, prospering, and in the righteous ways of the Lord.

Now, it is important when looking at this psalm to notice that it does not say that we should have nothing to do with the unrighteous, that is we should not spend time with them, etc. It’s language infers that it means that we do not participate in what they do that would be unwholesome or unhealthy toward our Christian lifestyle and testimony.

See, if we do not mix with unbelievers, then we have no opportunity to let them see that we are different! We will have no opportunity to share with them what they most need which is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not be able to be the light in the immediate darkness around us or the salt in the world around us that needs salting with the gospel. It is a sad fact, that many Christians have become so insular that they have no friends that are unbelievers!

Now of course, I say all this with caution, because I do believe that there are some places we should never attend or go to as believers, there are activities that we should never be involved in as believers, but what I am sharing is that we are not called to isolate ourselves away like monks or nuns in case we get tainted, rather we should be looking for ways in which we can influence and infiltrate with the good news of the gospel. We need to be cautious, as Jesus says, wise as serpents and gentle as doves, (Matthew 10:16) at all times seeking in any way and with every opportunity to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, either by witness or testimony, by sharing the gospel with words or showing the gospel by our lives. One of the most astounding things we read about Jesus was that he spent time with the publicans and sinners! (For example, Luke 15:1-2 ‘Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’’

So far, I have missed out the most important part of this chapter, it is found in verse 2 ‘but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.’ I believe that if we follow this practise of meditating upon the law (or the Word) of the LORD, and this requires us to be reading it to be able to meditate upon it, it will determine our motives in everything else that we will do. Our meditation of the Word will impact our lives and our living and as a result will help us to make the right lifestyle choices, it will have an effect upon our desires and the decisions we will make as to whether we can sit in certain places, stand in certain places or even walk with certain people. (See Psalm 119:1-9)

If the ‘Word’ delights us, we will be careful with the company that we keep, and with our walk and with our talk. Because if we want to practise what we preach, then what we preach should only be a reflection of what we practise, and what we practise and preach should be a reflection of who Jesus is and what he means to us. Therefore, the more Christlike we become, the more effective our walk and testimony will be.

The following hymn came to my mind a few days ago and I include just the first two verses.

I want my life to be all filled with praise to thee,

My precious Lord divine who died for me,

Let all my will be thine, controlled by thy love divine,

Live out in me thy life, O mighty Saviour.

Thy blessed will divine, with joy I make it mine,

My heart shall be thy throne, and thine alone,

Choose thou the path I tread and whither I am led,

Help me to follow on, O Mighty Saviour.

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Daily Devotion July 2nd

THURSDAY 2nd

Romans 6

WANTED – Dead and Alive!

No, the title is not a mistake, I know the old Western posters used to say, ‘Wanted dead or alive’ but for our devotion it is ‘Wanted Dead and Alive’!

Why? Because it is the perfect description as to how we should be as Christians. Dead to sin and Alive to Christ.

Roman 6 is a well-known chapter, often used at a water baptismal service, in the ESV that I use the heading says at the commencement of the chapter ‘Dead to sin, Alive to God,’ and that is what baptism is all about, it is signifying that we have died to sin, the old flesh, nature  and have been raised to new life in Christ Jesus. It is a symbolic act of what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’

Here in Romans 6 verse 4 we have, ‘We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.’

These verses along with many other Scriptures clearly show that if we have been born again by the Spirit of God a definite change should have happened in our lives as believers. We should be transformed, we should be living differently, we should be to use an old-fashioned word ‘holy’ or at least holier than what we were and striving to become even more holy, Christlike. In other words, my lifestyle should be different to what I was and to the lifestyle of an unbeliever.

In Romans 6 Paul shows us how different we should be, our old self should be crucified, dead, and as a result the body of sin should be brought to nothing and we should no longer be enslaved to sin, we should have been set free from it. This then leads to us being united to Christ, alive in Christ and sharing in his resurrection.

I mentioned that the word ‘holy’ has almost become an old fashioned word, in that often today there seems to be a ‘light Christianity’ being preached, it’s almost like just lift your hand up or sign a card and you are saved. Rather than a presentation of the full gospel which requires the unbeliever to be moved by conviction, which in turn leads to genuine repentance and then on to a genuine transformation, where the old truly is gone and the new has come, repentance and salvation that really does mean that an individual is dead to sin and alive to Christ.

God does require us to be both dead and alive, God does expect us to live differently as his children who are walking in his Kingdom than what we did when we walked in the kingdom of darkness. Paul puts it in another way in his letter to the church at Galatia, (Galatians 5) he talks to them about either walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. We cannot walk in both ways, we cannot try to pick and mix, we must walk in the one way or the other.

We are living in difficult days, and days where there is so much peer pressure especially within the younger generation. There is so much to distract the believer today, we are living in a pleasure and leisure filled and seeking age, and there is nothing wrong with either unless there are activities or things within them that would distract us in our Christian walk, or would be a means towards diverting us in our Christian walk.

The teaching of Scripture is that we should be seeking to walk and to live in a way that is pleasing to God, and this should be more important to us than our seeking after pleasure, especially pleasure that is questionable.

May God help us to respond to the heading I started with, by being willing to be found, not wanting, but dead to sin and alive to Christ.

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;

Living with Jesus, a new life divine;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.

Moment by moment I’m kept in his love;

Moment by moment I’ve life from above;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.

Never a trial that he is not there,

Never a burden that he doth not bear,

Never a sorrow that he doth not share,

Moment by moment, I’m under his care.

Never a heartache, and never a groan,

Never a teardrop, and never a moan;

Never a danger but there on the throne,

Moment by moment he thinks of his own.

Never a weakness that he doth not feel,

Never a sickness that he cannot heal;

Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,

Jesus my Saviour abides with me still.

D Whittle CCLI788682