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Daily Devotion May 12th

TUESDAY 12th

The Parable of the Ten Virgins – Matthew 25:1-13

The placement of this parable that we are considering today is within the conversation Jesus had with his disciples regarding the end times. In the previous chapter 24, we read in verse 1 that the disciples had drawn the attention of Jesus to the temple buildings. No doubt it was a splendid building, but Jesus makes a startling statement to the disciples that suggested that the temple buildings would be destroyed, with not one stone being left on another. We don’t know how long the gap is between verse 2 and 3, but by now Jesus and the disciples are sitting on the mount of Olives, the disciples had obviously been mulling over what Jesus had said and so they ask him, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ The whole of the remainder of this chapter is the answer that Jesus gave to them, which then leads into the parable before us today.

To summarize what Jesus had said in Matthew 24 is not the purpose of this devotion, but what we do learn is this, in his answer Jesus gives sufficient warning that his second coming would be sudden and at a time least expected. (see 24:42 and 44) This is then confirmed at the end of our parable, 25 verse 13 ‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’

Let us remind ourselves today in the midst of the turmoil, trouble and testing that is shaking the world at this moment as a result of the virus, we who are Christians need not fear, God is in control, and these things will happen before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 24:4-8) We need as it were to keep our eye on the ball, be watchful, be ready, for he could come at any moment.

Jesus uses a wedding scene in his parable, ten virgins who were supposed to be ready to go out to meet the bridegroom, we learn that five were wise, five were foolish. What then made the difference between whether they were wise or foolish? It all came down to whether they had oil with them to keep their lamps burning, so that when the bridegroom arrived, they would be ready.

We are told that the bridegroom was delayed, during the delay their lamps had been burning, but for five of the virgins their lamps were running out of oil and they had no spare oil to top their lamps up. They asked the other five to give them some oil, but they had to answer in the negative, for ‘if we give you some of our oil, there will not be enough for us as well.’ So, the foolish five went off to buy some oil, but alas, too late for while they were gone the bridegroom arrived and the wise five went into the feast and the door was shut. On their return the cry was made from the foolish five, ‘let us in’, but it was too late.

The purpose of the parable is to warn us to be ready for when Jesus comes again, by keeping our lamps trimmed and having a fresh supply of oil. If the wick of a lamp wasn’t trimmed regularly, the light would eventually diminish, give off an unpleasant smell and weaken, so keeping our lamps trimmed speaks to me of cutting off from our lives anything that is likely to frustrate our walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are so many things today that could hinder our walk, or our alertness and our readiness for our Bridegrooms arrival. Lacking oil could be symbolic of several things, it could refer to becoming spiritually dry and barren, through our lack of prayer, fellowship, and the reading of the Word. It could refer to our lack of dependency upon the Holy Spirit, it could simply be our loss of interest and desire for the things of God, even maybe a flirtation with the things of the world! In the parable it led to the five foolish not being ready!

The parable is all about ensuring that we watch our lives in the light of his impending coming, ensuring that we are in continual fellowship and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, being spiritually fed and spiritually alert as we wait for his arrival.

In Luke’s account of the second coming teaching of Jesus, he doesn’t include this parable, but in an earlier chapter he gives a similar warning, Luke 12:35-40 ‘Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

In bringing this devotion to an end, as you are reading this, are you ready? Is your lamp trimmed and burning bright? Do you have some fresh oil? Are you looking up in readiness for the arrival of our Saviour?

Do you know him personally as your Saviour, if not make yourself ready by allowing him to come into your life as your Lord and Master, come to the cross and repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

A final point, the five foolish virgins could not use the oil that belonged to the five wise virgins. When it comes to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot depend on someone else’s relationship to get us into heaven! Each one of us needs to make a personal decision to trust him as Lord and Saviour.

We will have an old Sunday school classis as our song for today

Give me oil in my lamp,

Keep me burning,

Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.

Give me oil in my lamp,

Keep me burning,

Keep me burning

Till the break of day.

Sing Hosanna! sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to the King of kings!

Sing Hosanna! sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to the King!

Give me joy in my heart,

Keep me singing.

Give me joy in my heart, I pray.

Give me joy in my heart,

Keep me singing.

Keep me singing

Till the break of day.

Give me peace in my heart,

Keep me resting,

Give me peace In my heart, I pray.

Give me peace in my heart,

Keep me resting.

Keep me resting

Till the break of day.

Give me love in my heart,

Keep me serving.

Give me love in my heart, I pray.

Give me love in my heart,

Keep me serving.

Keep me serving

Till the break of day.

CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 11th

MONDAY 11th

Luke 10:25-36 – The Good Samaritan

When I decided to look at some of the parables during this week, I set about choosing which ones to look at, but then I had to make a decision on what to concentrate on for each one as it is far too easy to make a devotion into something that becomes an epistle! (Perhaps you already think that 😊)

With this parable it was the introduction to it that caught my attention. Whereas yesterday the parable came as a result to a crowd gathering around Jesus, today we discover this parable comes as an answer to a question an individual asks Jesus. The question was to test Jesus, but Jesus turns it around to bring a challenge to the challenger! The initial question is ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ To which Jesus responds, ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’

Who was it that came to Jesus with the question? The ESV says ‘a lawyer’, the KJV and NKJV ‘a certain lawyer’, the NIV and CSB ‘an expert in the law’, the NET and NLT ‘an expert in religious law’, the one who asked the question was an expert in religious law, he would have or should have known the Old Testament law inside out, every jot and tittle, therefore Jesus puts him to the test. ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’ The lawyer then answers by using Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as his answer, ‘And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” (10:27) Jesus then tells him, ‘You have answered correctly, do this and you will live.’ But this wasn’t enough for the lawyer, he continues further, ‘Who is my neighbour.’  We then have the parable which Jesus gave to answer the question.

We know the parable, I remember having to learn it to be able recite it in Sunday school when I was a youngster, to my shame I would struggle to recall it to mind today, but I can still remember what it was all about. A man is on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, a journey of about 17 miles when he is attacked by robbers. Three people came along the road, the first two were a priest and a Levite – the third was a Samaritan. In those days, it was the first two who SHOULD have been the ones to have gone to the victim’s aid, but they chose to walk by, it was a Samaritan – an enemy of the Jew, who came to the victims aid. (John 4:9 ‘For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.’) And Jesus asks the ‘expert’ in the law, ‘Which of these three, do you think proved to be the neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?’  The ‘expert’ relies, ‘The one who showed mercy.’ The conclusion to the matter comes from Jesus, ‘You go, and do likewise.’

I wonder how the ‘expert’ felt afterwards? To be told that he would have to love his enemies if he wanted to inherit eternal life!

I commenced by saying that it was the introduction to this parable that caught my attention – ‘a lawyer’ or as the NIV puts it, ‘an expert in the law’ stood up to put him (Jesus) to the test. As an ‘expert’, he thought he had it all wrapped up in his ‘knowing’ the law, but Jesus ends the conversation by reminding him that it is the ‘doing’ that matters as well. Obviously, here in this parable Jesus isn’t teaching that good works will save us, he is saying that if we truly love the Lord our God, etc. which we know from comparing Scripture with Scripture is demonstrated by our yielding to him and obeying him, which includes the outworking of the Cross in our lives, then our faith and obedience will be demonstrated through our works. I wonder if James had this parable in mind when he wrote his epistle, especially chapter 2:22-25 ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.’ And again in 2:14-17 ‘What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’

To sum it up, the ‘EXPERT’ needed to become an ‘EXAMPLE’. As Christians we can become ‘experts’ in many different things, in our knowledge of spiritual things, in our ministries and callings, but what we need to become is ‘examples’ and to ‘excel’ in living out the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love

Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord

And where there’s doubt, true faith in You

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace

It is pardoning that we are pardoned

In giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we’re born to eternal life

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

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Daily Devotion May 10th

SUNDAY 10th

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23m- The Parable of the Sower

For some of this week, we will take a brief look at some of the parables of the Lord Jesus. The parable before us today is a well-known story, the sower and the seed. Jesus gave the parable to the crowd who were listening, (v2) but, it seems that he only gave the explanation to the disciples (v10-11).

Let’s set the scene, Jesus had gone to sit down by the sea, I can imagine him just listening to the gentle sound of the breaking waves, watching the sunlight glistening off the sea and the birds diving to catch the fish that swum too close to the surface. A moment of personal space, but not for long as the crowds arrived and so he got into a boat and began to speak to them in parables.

When I read this parable, I like to think (forgive my imagination) that Jesus was not only looking across the crowd, but out beyond them and in the distance he could see a man who had not joined them, he was too busy, he was one of the local farmers and he had work to do. He needed to get the fields planted to enable a harvest in a few months and so the inspiration comes for the parable.

In our modern age it is too easy to think in modern ways, but we need to remind ourselves that this farmer didn’t have a tractor and a seed drill that could cover a vast area each time he drove up and down the field. Back then it would have been an extremely hard day’s work, walking back and forth sowing the seed in the scorching sun. The sowing would have taken place by ‘broadcasting’, that is by taking a handful of seed from a sack or bag hanging from the shoulder and throwing it out across the soil. I remember when I was about 14 years of age, my dad saying to my brother (18 months younger) and I that we were going to spend a few days at a great uncle’s farm near Leominster. We assumed that we were having a few days holiday, but soon learned, not so, (we should have known better) our great uncle had some work that needed to be done and we were going there with the purpose of helping him out. We soon discovered that he needed a field to be planted with grass seed, and no, we weren’t going to be using a tractor and seed drill, we were going to have to do it the old fashioned way by walking in straight lines back and forth using a seed riddle. It was hard work, even for farmer’s boys!

And the sower in our story for today was working hard, up and down, back and forth, sowing the seed in readiness for a harvest.

We know the story well, some fell on the pathway and became food for the birds, some on the rocky ground where the seed had no soil to root, and so it withered and died, some fell among the thorns and thistles and as it began to grow it became tangled and choked, but some fell in the good soil and it rooted, grew and produced a harvest.

We could look at the farmer and think well why was he not a bit more careful with where he sowed? Why did he cast some seed on the pathway, why cast some seed among the rocky ground, why cast it among the weedy areas, why not be more careful? Well, we could ask these questions and never find any answers, but the one thing that is so important in this story is this – at least he sowed and at least out of what was sown he reaped a harvest, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.

Can I use my imagination again? As I look back in my mind and see Jesus sitting in the boat, telling the parable to the crowd that were listening, and at the same time seeing this man sowing, even if some of the seed fell on the path, or in the rocks, or among the weeds, at least some of it fell in good soil and he got a harvest! Is it possible that we can become so content sitting at the feet of Jesus, coming into fellowship week after week, listening to sermon after sermon,(and yes I believe in the importance of and priority of preaching) that we forget to sow! We are wanting to be spiritually fed ourselves (and yes this is vitally important) while at the same time we can easily forget that outside there is a world full of people that are dying in their sin and heading to a lost eternity. I wonder how often we have heard it said, ‘God will bring them in,’ well although this may happen, the reality is God expects us to go and get! (Matthew 9:37-38 ‘Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”’)

We have the answer, it is the seed of the Word of God, the seed that was planted in our hearts however many years ago it may have been is producing fruit, but the same seed needs planting into the hearts of men and women around us. (1 Peter 1:22-25  ‘Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.’)

I have already mentioned that back in Jesus’ day, sowing wasn’t easy, and often we don’t find the task of sowing the seed of the gospel easy, but just as modern methods have made it easier for the farmer today, so modern methods make the sharing of the gospel so much easier today. We have easy accessibility to so many tools to help us in our ways of sharing the gospel.

May God help us individually and collectively to be willing to become sowers of the seed of the Word of God, looking for opportunity to share the good news of the gospel, yes, we may get rebuffed, we might come across stony hearts, or hearts that are full of weeds, but at the same time we will come across hearts that are ready to receive the seed as we plant it. Just remember this, no sowing, no harvest!

In John’s gospel, after Jesus met with the woman at the well, we read of him saying to the disciples, (John 4:35) ‘Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.’ During this difficult few months with the pandemic, hearts have become troubled, people have realised not only how fragile life is but also how precious it is, we need to be praying that one of the outcomes will be that hearts will also be ready to receive the seed of the word of God, that will bring to them hope not only for the here and now, but hope that will last into eternity.

I do not ever remember going back a few months later to see how successful my brother and I had been in sowing the field with grass seed. Our great uncle did not come looking for us so I assume it must have been okay! (and we went back to help him again) The point here, we had sowed but he (our uncle) got the benefit. We may sow but never see the benefit, we may sow and as the seed grows the individual may end up going somewhere else, what matters is that we have sowed. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labour. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.’

To the work! to the work! we are servants of God,

Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;

With the might of His power our strength to renew,

Let us do by His grace what He calls us to do.

Work for Him by His grace;

Work thru Him for His praise;

Work with Him all the days;

And work in Him in many ways.

To the work! to the work! let the hungry be fed;

To the fountain of life let the thirsty be led;

In the cross and its vict’ry our glory shall be,

While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”

To the work! to the work! in the strength of the Lord,

By the pow’r of His Name, with the light of His Word,

All the slaves of the darkness of Satan set free

And His riches of grace in His glory we’ll see.

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Daily Devotion May 9th

Saturday 9th – Isaiah 40:21-31

We come today to the last verses in Isaiah 40, and today I will bring the devotion from verses 28-31 ‘Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’

These verses commence with two question, ‘Have you not known?’ and ‘Have you not heard’? Known and heard what? That ‘the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.’ That is good, but listen further, ‘He does not faint or grow weary.’

I want us to think sheep and Shepherd again, and when it says ‘The LORD is . . .’   think ‘The SHEPHERD is and then consider what it says about this Shepherd. ‘He does not faint or grow weary’

You can ask any farmer who works alone during the lambing season and they will tell you that it is hard work and it can be very tiring because you have to be available to watch the flock day and night, it is a 24 / 7 job. And the first night or two are not so bad, but then you begin to get faint and weary through lack of sleep, through toil and hard work and through the demands of needing to give the sheep your full attention. NOT SO WITH OUR SHEPHERD! He does not faint or grow weary and imagine the size of his flock! Imagine also how awkward and time demanding some of the sheep might be and yet he looks after the flock with his full and undivided attention.

Continue the picture of these verses referring to the Lord as our Shepherd, and it tells us that not only does he not grow tired and weary but that he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength. Taking Thursday’s thought, he sees us when we are like the weak helpless lambs and he is willing to nurture us back to strength and to revive our cold hearts. Without wanting to seem irreverent with my illustrative mind, there have been many times when the Shepherd has needed to wrap me in a hessian sack and warm me up, and bottle feed me till I have gained strength again. Maybe that is where you are today, feeling weak and helpless, maybe low in spirit, allow the Shepherd to nurse you back to strength again, to revive your faint heart and to reinvigorate you in your weariness.

See, there is not one of us who can say we never feel like this, verse 30 says ‘EVEN the youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.’ We all know periods of weakness and lacking in power or strength spiritually, but our Shepherd in his care for us comes to renew.

The final verse is so well known, ‘but they who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength’ – there is no doubt about it – we need to know what it is to come and to wait in the Shepherd’s presence, come into his ‘farmhouse’, come into the warmth of his love and care and know what it is to mount up again with wings like an eagle, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint.’

Thou Shepherd of Israel, and mine,

The joy and desire of my heart,

For closer communion I pine,

I long to reside where thou art.

The pastures I languish to find

Where all who their shepherd obey

Are fed, on thy bosom reclined,

And screened from the heat of the day.

Ah! show me that happiest place,

The place of thy people’s abode,

Where saints in true happiness gaze

And hang on a crucified God.

Thy love for a sinner declare,

Thy passion and death on the tree;

My spirit to Calvary bear,

To suffer and triumph with thee.

‘Tis there, with the lambs of thy flock,

There only, I covet to rest,

To lie at the foot of the rock,

Or rise to be hid in thy breast.

‘Tis there I would always abide,

And never a moment depart,

Concealed in the cleft of thy side,

Eternally held in thy heart.

How good is the God we adore,

Our faithful, unchangeable friend,

Whose love is as great as his power,

And knows neither measure nor end.

‘Tis Jesus the first and the last,

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home,

We’ll praise him for all that is past,

And trust him for all that’s to come.

Charles Wesley CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion May 8th

Friday 8th

Today we will pause in our devotion from Isaiah 40 and reflect for a short while on what today is all about – the 75th anniversary of VE Day or Victory in Europe Day.

Britain along with its allies had been through a bitter and bloody world war, the second in the space of 30 years. It was a war that caused devastation around the world with the estimated loss of between 70 – 85,000,000 people. VE day marked the end of the conflict in Europe, the war would not come to a complete end until the 15th of August when Japan finally surrendered. The arrival of the Coronavirus has meant that all the planned celebrations for this anniversary have had to be cancelled. Just for a few moments today, spend time honouring those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today and pray for all those who are serving in the armed forces today to continue to provide the freedom we enjoy. It would be a good opportunity to pray for peace in the troubled parts of the world today where there is conflict.

Reading for today – Colossians 2:6-15 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Earlier this week our subject was celebration, and the day is coming where there is going to be the biggest and the greatest celebration ever, and it will not take place on earth it will take place in heaven. The battle took place two thousand years ago where Jesus took on the devil, the powers of darkness and death and he came out of the battle as the Mighty Conqueror. Colossians 2:14b-15 ‘by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.’

And 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ‘When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “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.’

There has been a constant celebration of victory ever since as many millions have been brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, men and women born again by the Spirit of God, set free from being captive to sin and Satan, as we saw in earlier devotions, the angels in heaven are rejoicing. But the biggest celebration is yet to happen, and the good news is we will be there! We read of it in Revelation chapter 5 and again later in chapter 7.

Revelation 5:11-14 ‘Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.’

Revelation 7:9-12 ‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”’

What a celebration this is going to be, the whole of heaven rejoicing, every blood washed man and woman joining with the host of heaven in celebration, giving a victory shout, declaring ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne.’ He has conquered, he has triumphed.

When World War I ended it was hoped that such a thing would never happen again, the same after World War II, but the sad fact is that because of the fallen state of humanity and its utter depravity war will continue to happen until the end of the age.

When Jesus conquered it was a once for all battle, it will never need to be repeated, because he has triumphed for ever and ever. He has already dealt the final blow, and the victory is already won!

See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph; see the King in royal state,

Riding on the clouds, His chariot, to His heavenly palace gate.

Hark! the choirs of angel voices joyful alleluias sing,

And the portals high are lifted to receive their heavenly King.

Who is this that comes in glory, with the trump of jubilee?

Lord of battles, God of armies, He has gained the victory.

He Who on the cross did suffer, He Who from the grave arose,

He has vanquished sin and Satan, He by death has spoiled His foes.

While He lifts His hands in blessing, He is parted from His friends

While their eager eyes behold Him, He upon the clouds ascends;

He Who walked with God and pleased Him, preaching truth and doom to come,

He, our Enoch, is translated to His everlasting home.

Now our heavenly Aaron enters, with His blood, within the veil;

Joshua now is come to Canaan, and the kings before Him quail;

Now He plants the tribes of Israel in their promised resting place;

Now our great Elijah offers double portion of His grace.

He has raised our human nature in the clouds to God’s right hand;

There we sit in heavenly places, there with Him in glory stand:

Jesus reigns, adored by angels; man with God is on the throne;

Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension we by faith behold our own.

Holy Ghost, llluminator, shed Thy beams upon our eyes,

Help us to look up with Stephen, and to see beyond the skies,

Where the Son of Man in glory standing is at God’s right hand,

Beckoning on His martyr army, succouring His faithful band.

See Him, Who is gone before us, heavenly mansions to prepare,

See Him, who is ever pleading for us with prevailing prayer,

See Him, Who with sound of trumpet, and with His angelic train,

Summoning the world to judgment, on the clouds will come again.

Raise us up from earth to Heaven, give us wings of faith and love,

Gales of holy aspirations wafting us to realms above;

That, with hearts and minds uplifted, we with Christ our Lord may dwell,

Where He sits enthroned in glory in His heavenly citadel.

So at last, when He appeareth, we from out our graves may spring,

With our youth renewed like eagles, flocking round our heavenly King.

Caught up on the clouds of Heaven, and may meet Him in the air,

Rise to realms where He is reigning, and may reign for ever there.

Glory be to God the Father, glory be to God the Son,

Dying, risen, ascending for us, Who the heavenly realm has won;

Glory to the Holy Spirit, to one God in persons Three;

Glory both in earth and heaven, glory, endless glory, be.

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Daily Devotion May 7th

Thursday 7th – Isaiah 40:9-20

The heading for these verses at verse 9 in my ESV Bible says, ‘The Greatness of God.’

We considered the greatness of God in earlier devotions, for today I want to consider his greatness in the context of what it says in verse 11, ‘He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.’ We are back to the Lord as our Shepherd. His greatness in his gentleness.

I had got to the point of preparing the devotions for this week, I had done the ones for Sunday – Tuesday and suddenly when it came to yesterday’s devotion I had for the first time while preparing the devotions over this period of time hit a brick wall! I had two attempts at putting something together but scrapped them, but deep inside I felt it needed to be about lambs! I ended up putting my planning and prepping aside and going for a walk. The next morning, I felt an inner witness to devote the three days mentioned as yesterday to Isaiah 40 and as I went through it you’ve, probably guessed it, there it was in the chapter,  the word ‘lambs’ – ‘He will gather the lambs in his arms.’ (v11) So this is our subject for today. Believe it or not, while I was preparing this actual devotion I had an email from Iain and it was pointing me to a song he had discovered that morning it was at this point of my prepping that I decided to listen to it and guess what it was called? ‘Gentle Shepherd come and lead us for we need you to help us to find our way.’ wow, talk about a confirmation!

There are lots of beautiful things we can see in this world around us, and to me one of the most beautiful is to see a field of sheep and to look at all the lambs playing, running around and skipping together.

A happy farmer is the one who has had a successful lambing season, but every farmer or shepherd knows that during the lambing season there will always be loss, lambs that are still-born or a ewe that has died during birthing leaving orphan lambs. It then becomes the responsibility as soon as possible for the shepherd to do what he can to provide for the orphaned lamb. It could be an adoption with another ewe, or it may be to have to hand rear it, the lamb to become what we call a ‘tiddler’. Being a farmer’s son, I have been involved in this, I was never going to be a farmer, if I had had to remain on the farm it would have either have been as a maintenance worker with the machinery etc or as a shepherd. There was an inbuilt instinct in me from a youngster for the sheep, maybe that was God planting a spiritual seed in my life in preparation for being a shepherd for his flock, the Church and in particular you as the flock he has placed under my care in the present.

We often had orphan lambs which became tiddlers, they would be the lambs that we would bottle feed and during lambing season the farmhouse would become like an animal hospital as the weak, cold and starving lambs would be brought in from the cold and warmed up, wrapped in hessian sacks (sometimes in the Rayburn oven with the door left open or into an electric clothes airer that my mum had) and then fed. Often it was us the children that had the responsibility of feeding them every day. Eventually when they were strong enough, they would be placed in the barn with other lambs until time for them to go out into the field with the other sheep with their lambs. It was particularly during lambing season that you would see the gentler side of the farmer / shepherd.

Our Scripture tells us that the Lord who is our Shepherd is a gentle Shepherd, he knows those who are his sheep (Psalm 100) and he cares for us. These verses tell us that he TENDS his flock, that is he looks after our needs, he feeds us, he watches over us, he checks us over, he heals the wounds, he keeps us safe and should it be needed he lovingly corrects us. I love to picture the Scripture when it says that as a shepherd he gathers the lambs in his arms – I don’t know what you imagine here, but I see us as the sheep especially when we may be afraid, or downhearted, or even broken-hearted, and he the Shepherd stooping down to picks us up, to scoop us up into his arms and hold us tightly, close to his chest, where we can hear his heart beat. It reminds me of the well-known poem ‘Footprints’ where there seems to be only one set of footprints in the sand, and the conclusion is that in those moments I was carrying you in my arms. (poem at the end)

We have touched several times over the weeks about the Lord as Shepherd and us as his sheep. Today may we learn that we can always trust our Good Shepherd, he will never fail us or let us down, whatever our situation, he is with us, ready at a moment’s notice to pick us up and hold us close to his side.

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

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

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

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

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

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

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

You’d walk with me all the way.

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

there was only one set of footprints.

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

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

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you.”

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 6th

Wednesday 6th – Isaiah 40:1-8

Today we will start to look at some thoughts from Isaiah 40, we will return to this chapter again tomorrow and on Saturday.

I want to highlight for today verses 6-8. These few verses start off with a call for the prophet Isaiah to cry out, he asks ‘What shall I cry out’ and the response is: ‘All flesh is grass, and all it’s beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades . . .’ He then ends the cry with the words ‘but the word of our God will stand forever.’

The whole sentence is making a statement which is a comparison between the life span of mankind and the longevity of the Word of God. Man is compared to the grass of the field or to a flower – here today and gone tomorrow, but the Word of God is eternal, it will last forever. (Peter quotes this in 1 Peter 1:24-25)

It reminds us that life is fragile. If we take the comparison of the grass or the flower, we know how quickly the grass can come and grow and yet soon be affected by weather conditions which causes it to dry up and to die. The same with a flower, I love gardening, back in Rhyl I had planted hundreds of bulbs in the garden and I always looked forward to seeing the bulbs begin to show through the soil, and I would wait patiently for them to grow and for the flowers to begin to show, especially the tulips. We always had our first snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils in January and as they would be coming to an end the tulips would appear, but suddenly, after all the waiting, it seemed like the flowers had come and gone with a blink of an eye.

None of us knows how long our life span is, back in the time of the patriarchs they had a really good innings, Methuselah 969 years, but following the flood, God shortened the life span until we get to Psalm 90:10 and we read ‘The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.’

In the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 12:1 we read ‘Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days draw near and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them.’ When we link what we read here in Ecclesiastes to what Isaiah cried out in our text, it is a call for each one of us to make time for God before it is too late!

Now, I know that I am preparing this devotion for our Church family, therefore I can assume that it is being read by those of us who have already made time for God in our lives, but what I feel led to impress in our hearts today is that we make sure that we live everyday with the realisation that eternity may only just be around the corner. We should live in the light of the revealed truth of God’s Word, his Word which is eternal, we should be living in the present with eternity in view.

The Scripture I am reminded of as I prepare this is found in Luke 12:16-21 ‘And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”’

The rich man was living only for the present, no thought for eternity, perhaps he thought he was invincible, he had overlooked the fragility of life. I remember working for a guy who was very anti-God, he was determined to build up his own little empire, one day I challenged him concerning his soul and told him the day would come when he would have to stand before God, I will never forget the look of anger on his face that I should even dare to warn him. To my knowledge he has never responded, (that was nearly 40 years ago) there are many today who live this short fragile time we have on this earth with no time whatsoever for God.

Let’s make the time we do have count, let’s make it matter, yes we have to prepare for the present, for we are living in the present, but may we never make what we do in the present have a negative impact on that which is eternal. Following on from the parable in Luke 12 we have the words of Jesus (vv22-34) that are also found in Matthew 6:25-34, I quote from Matthew,  ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’ If we want to make our lives count here on earth, if we want to live life in the light of eternity, then our priority must be to seek first the kingdom of God.

Finally, the last sentence of Isaiah in these verses ‘But the Word of the Lord will stand forever.’ Can I suggest that we need to live our lives in the light of his Word, it is his Word that matters, it is his Word that counts, and it is his Word that will stand forever. In the words of an older hymn, ‘Standing on the promises of God.’

All I once held dear, built my life upon

All this world reveres, and wars to own

All I once thought gain I have counted loss

Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Knowing you, Jesus

Knowing you, there is no greater thing

You’re my all, you’re the best

You’re my joy, my righteousness

And I love you, Lord

Now my heart’s desire is to know you more

To be found in you and known as yours

To possess by faith what I could not earn

All-surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh, to know the power of your risen life

And to know You in Your sufferings

To become like you in your death, my Lord

So with you to live and never die

Graham Kendrick  Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 5th

TUESDAY 5th – Psalm 66

This whole chapter before us today is a chapter of celebration. The Psalmist is celebrating who God is and what he has done, and he invites the world to join in with him – ‘Shout for joy to God, all the earth . . . say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!’’ (vv1-2) In verse 5 he invites all the earth to come and to see what God has done, ‘he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man’. Later in verse 16 he personalises Gods goodness towards himself, ‘Come and hear, all ye who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul.’

The psalmist is excited about the goodness of God in general toward mankind, and equally excited about his own experience of the goodness of God and he thinks it is something worth celebrating. ‘I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.’ (v17) High praise or high praises are mentioned again in a later Psalm, another Psalm that encourages to celebrate in worship, Psalm 149:6 ‘Let the high praises of God be in their throats.’ (KJV mouths) In the cluster of Psalms here, the celebration is one of exuberance and joy before the Lord. Psalm 148 invites everything and everyone to get involved in celebrating and praising the Lord, The heavens, the heights, the angels, the hosts, sun, moon, stars, great sea creatures, even the weather, (v8) mountains and hills, trees, beasts and animals, creepy crawlies and birds, kings, princes, rulers and all people – praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted, his majesty is above earth and heaven. (v13) In Psalm 150 the celebration of praise to the Lord is expected to take place with the accompaniment of instruments, lute, harp, tambourine, strings, pipes, sounding cymbals and loud clashing cymbals and with dance! What a celebration of praise, and why? Because the Lord is worthy.

Our times of worship should be times of celebration as we come to acknowledge the greatness of God, the goodness of God and the grace of God.

He is great – ‘Great is the LORD and GREATLY to be praised’ Psalm 48:1, Psalm 145:3, (my paraphrase ‘Great is the LORD and GREATLY to be celebrated’) the same chapter (Psalm 48) ends with ‘that you may tell to the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.’ (v13-14) He is great in his steadfast love (Psalm103:11) and great in his faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23) Surely his GREATNESS is worth celebrating.

He is good – Psalm 86:5 ‘For you, O LORD are GOOD and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.’ Psalm 145:9 ‘The LORD is GOOD to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.’ Surely Gods GOODNESS is worth celebrating.

He is gracious – Psalm 103:8 ‘The LORD is merciful and GRACIOUS, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.’ Psalm 145:8 ‘The LORD is GRACIOUS and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.’ His GRACIOUSNESS is worth celebrating.

Once this pandemic is over, there will be a lot of rejoicing and celebrating, there will be parties as families and friends are reunited, perhaps not having seen each other for many weeks, or possibly months, there will be many who during this time will have come close to death and they will want to rejoice because of the second chance they have received. I guess that we will be rejoicing and celebrating and why not, but the first priority must be to have the high praises of God on our lips, to be coming with joyful and celebratory hearts to the house of the Lord to give thanks from grateful hearts. Celebrating our God who is a Great God, a Good God and a Gracious God who has saved us and kept us from harm. I am looking forward to hearing Iain with the guitar and Tim on the piano, calling us to praise and worship, and I’m looking forward to hearing all of our voices blending together as we worship the LORD with grateful hearts.

Come on and celebrate

His gift of love, we will celebrate

The Son of God who loved us

And gave us life

We’ll shout Your praise, O King

You give us joy nothing else can bring

We’ll give to You our offering

In celebration praise

Come on and celebrate

Celebrate

Celebrate and sing

Celebrate and sing to the King

Come on and celebrate

Celebrate

Celebrate and sing

Celebrate and sing to the King

© 1984 Kingsway Thankyou Music CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 4th

MONDAY 4th – Luke 15:11-32

We return to the chapter from yesterday and continue into the third story that Jesus told to the listening crowd. The story of the lost son, or the prodigal son.

Like the two previous parables this is also well-known and ends up with a celebration, except this time we are told much more about the celebration in the farming family than we read about with the shepherd and the woman.

In this story, the younger of the two sons chose to leave the safety and security of the family farm to go and to do his own thing. We know the story, he wanted the future (his inheritance) in the present, he thought he was adult enough to look after himself, he thought the grass was greener on the other side, and so he got what he wanted, he went where he wanted, he did what he wanted and he ended up in a bit of a mess.

Obviously we see here the picture of the prodigal, or backslider, but at this point in the devotion, I want to suggest that we can often be like this son, we are living in the safety of our heavenly Father’s care, he has bountiful provision for us, not only an eternal inheritance but provision for the present day. And yet, we want more than he wants us to have, we forget to ask for or to get his advice and we try to make our own decisions and often we feel the grass is greener on the other side. He has a plan for our lives and yet we want to do our own thing. Looking at this parable should teach us that it is far better to stay in the safety and security of our Father’s homestead than to go off seeking to do our own thing. This is often how backsliding begins, putting our own self and personal ambition before the will of God.

To come back to the parable, we see the son, at his lowest point, feeding pigs, this would be an insult to a Jewish family and he was so hungry, he could have ate the pigs food, and no one gave him anything. Then we get to verse 17, ‘But when he came to himself’ or ‘to his senses.’ He began to look at his present situation, he remembered the past (what he had been) and began to think again of the future. (what he could be) He remembered the comfort of the family and farmstead and he longed for home. So much so that he knew that even if he only went back as a servant, he would be better off than in his present situation. So, speech prepared off he went, to use a modern phrase, probably with his tail between his legs, thinking, ‘I’m going to have to eat some humble pie.’

But the story has an incredible ending. He did not even make it home, his father was waiting for him, and threw his arms around him, kissing him, and he called for a party. (vv22-23) And why not, listen to what dad said, ‘Let us eat and celebrate. For this MY SON was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and his found. And they began to celebrate’ – there were new shoes, a new coat, a ring on the finger and dinner with the best beef. He got a lot more than he could have ever hoped and dreamt for while sitting amongst the pigs in squalor, for such was his father’s love for him. He welcomed the prodigal back into the family and home, not as a servant but as a son, able again to enjoy the privileges of living at home with mum and dad.

The remaining verses tell us of the older son, he was not a happy bunny, he was angry, he was jealous, he was anything but what he should have been. Whereas the younger son had said I want, the older brother was also all about ‘me’, I have done this, I have done that, I didn’t do what he has done etc. and he complained about the party, the celebration. A warning for us in the family of God to make sure our hearts are right in our attitude towards those who have wandered, not to become proud or haughty, thinking we are better, but to remain humble and prayerful that our lost brothers and sisters will come home. I want there to be parties in heaven yet again not just over sheep and coins being found but rejoicing over prodigal’s returning.

Thank God our Heavenly Fathers’ arms are always held wide open to receive the wandering sinner, but the same arms are also held wide open to receive back the prodigal, the backslider, ready to reinstate their rights as the sons and daughters of the household of God.

Two points for us to finish with today.

First, maybe someone is reading this today that thinks a little like the younger son, I want to do my own thing, I want to go, the grass is greener the other side. Think over this story and learn the lesson the easy way rather than the hard way as the son had to. The grass is not greener, things are not rosier, for eventually by going your own way and doing your own thing you will end up with the pigs and more so with the ‘pig’ himself! Stay in the safety of our heavenly Father’s home, with his family, in a place of safety and security that is not only for now but also for eternity. Our heavenly Father has an eternal inheritance ready for each one of us, do not squander yours by doing your own thing and going your own way.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;

Prone to leave the God I love:

Take my heart, oh, take and seal it

With Thy Spirit from above.

Rescued thus from sin and danger,

Purchased by the Savior’s blood,

May I walk on earth a stranger,

As a son and heir of God.

Secondly. We all know those who we would say are backslidden, there is hope as this story tells us and many have already come to their senses, don’t give up, keep praying that the wayward prodigals, the son’s and daughter’s will return back to Father and home.

Part 3 (Continued from yesterday)

Further on outside the town,

A farmer lived with lots of ground,

Two sons he had who worked quite hard,

In fields and in the farming yard.

The youngest of them said one day,

I really want to run away,

I’ll ask my dad for what I’m owed,

And wander off along the road.

His dad his portion to him gave,

And watched him go as he did wave,

With tears that fell-down, both his cheeks,

Too sad to argue or to speak.

The lad he travelled off quite far,

And spent his time in all the bars,

And soon he found his money gone,

What would he do from now there on?

He found a job feeding some pigs,

It also meant he had some digs,

But hunger always made him ill,

He ended eating the pig swill.

One day all dirty and forlorn,

He thought of home and then did mourn,

‘If only dad would take me back,

As servant then I would not lack.’

So off he trotted back to home,

No more to squander or to roam,

But will they want to welcome me,

Of that there is no guarantee.

As near the farmyard he did get,

His heart was filled with deep regret,

He saw a figure running fast,

And shouting ‘Son it’s you at last.’

Before he even said a word,

His father hugged him undeterred,

‘Son my heart is full of joy,

To see you back my dearest boy.’

The father called to servants near,

‘Rejoice with me my son is here,

Get fatted calf and choicest wine,

Let’s have a party, come let’s dine.’

The older brother in the field,

His anger struggled to conceal,

‘A party for your wreck-less son,

But not for me with all I’ve done.’

The father spoke out loud and clear,

‘My son was lost or dead I’d feared,

But look he’s here and still alive,

Rejoice with me home he’s arrived.’

Categories
Devotions

Daily Devotion May 3rd

SUNDAY 3rd – Luke 15:1-10

As we commence another new week, how would you personally review the past six weeks?

I must be honest, that when I started writing the daily devotions starting with the 22nd March, I did not think I would need to be preparing them for such a long period of time. Over this period, we have covered various topics, and gone to many different Scriptures. My prayer is that sometime over this period that the Word and the devotions will have ministered in some way to our Church family. As I’m preparing for this week’s devotions I am hopeful that by the time I am sending them that we may be close to being able to get back to having gathered Church again, where we can be together in fellowship in safety and with hearts that are overflowing with joy.

For Sunday – Tuesday this week we will think of the word ‘celebrate’ and then again on Friday as this week Friday is a Bank Holiday to celebrate or to commemorate V.E. Day

Our Scripture today comprises of two well-known stories or parables that Jesus taught. A parable is described as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning or, as an earthly illustration to bring out a spiritual meaning. Tomorrow we will consider the third parable in this chapter.

In the first parable, a shepherd has lost one of his sheep, in the second a lady has lost one of her coins. That which was lost in both stories was of value to the owner. One sheep out of a hundred may not seem much, but if your living depended upon it then a 1% loss is a loss and should it have been a pregnant ewe then an even bigger loss. One coin out of 10 again may not seem too bad, but it is a 10% loss. One percent or ten percent, it does not matter, something was lost, and the Shepherd went to look for the lost sheep and the woman did all she could to find the missing coin.

At the end of the first story, having found his sheep, the shepherd calls his neighbours and friends saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Likewise, the same with the woman after finding the coin, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

First, let us be honest, I wonder how many farmers call their neighbours to rejoice when they have been out and found a lost sheep? I spent 23 years living on a farm and believe you me sheep are always breaking out and getting lost – but I never ever remember my dad throwing a party after finding a lost sheep! The same with a coin, we have probably all lost a coin, and maybe spent ages searching for it, but I guess you never ran around your neighbours houses shouting out to them ‘rejoice, I lost a coin and have found it.’ But here in the parables they did!

Why? Because the story is emphasising not so much the value of a sheep or of a coin, but of a lost soul. Remember verse 1 says that Jesus was sat with sinners and eating with them, and the Scribes and the Pharisees were grumbling and criticising Jesus for spending time with them. So, Jesus told the parables to explain what he was doing – he was looking for lost souls! This is what it says in verse 7 after the sheep in the story was found, ‘Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’ And in verse 10 after the coin was found, ‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’

The loss of a sheep is not good news, the loss of the coin was not good news but what is even worse is the loss of a human soul. A sheep can be replaced, a coin can be replaced but not a soul.

The Bible says that ‘All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to our own way.’ (Isaiah 53:6) As lost sheep we were bound for eternity to be lost forever, but the Shepherd came to find us. The Shepherd came to seek and to save the lost. It is ironic that to be able to do this, the Shepherd became a lamb as Isaiah 53:7 says, to be slaughtered on our behalf so that we could come into his fold, under his care as the Good Shepherd.

And just like the coin was precious to the woman who had lost it, so the human soul is precious to God who created it! (Genesis 1:27) And like the woman who did all she could to find the precious coin, so God intended to do all he could to find lost human souls.

And when a ‘lost sheep’, a ‘lost coin’, a lost soul is found there is a great celebration in heaven, there is joy in the presence of the angels.

Again, I have to be honest, when I look back to when I was found on May 18th 1969 after this parable of the lost sheep was the subject of the preacher, there wasn’t a party in the church, nor when we got home as a family, yes the preacher was excited, my parents were excited, I was excited, but there is one thing for sure there was a great celebration in heaven.

Imagine the celebration on the day of Pentecost when three thousand were saved! It would have been an ‘all-nighter’, think back to the moment when you were saved, and imagine the party in heaven over your being found. And the angels still like to celebrate, the Shepherd is still looking through the hillside, crags and briars, the woman is still sweeping through the house, the heavenly ‘champagne’ is always ‘on ice’ ready to celebrate.

The challenge today is this, are we willing to become like shepherds to go out and to look for the lost sheep, are we willing to be like the woman and to sweep through our neighbourhoods, looking in the nooks and cranny’s to find the lost souls that need saving. Are we willing to do whatever it takes so that the angels in heaven can celebrate again?

Instead of the usual hymns for today and tomorrow I am using a poem which I had already written myself based on Luke 15. It is in three parts, part 1 and 2 today and 3 tomorrow.

Part 1

A shepherd with a flock of sheep,

Cared for them on the mountain steep,

He led them into pastures new,

And luscious grass they all did chew.

He watched them through the day and night,

He never let them from his sight,

One day he counted them all up,

But alas, he’d lost a little tup.

There should have been a hundred sheep,

His watchful eye on them to keep,

How could one have gone astray,

I’ll look for it without delay.

He left the others in the fold,

And went out in the night so cold,

He searched the valley and the plain,

While getting soaked with all the rain.

But hush, he listened to a sound,

It came as if from rougher ground,

He followed as he heard the bleat,

And saw his tup caught by his feet.

The brambles tangled in his wool,

He’d struggled hard and tried to pull,

But got himself in such a mess,

He’d driven himself to deep distress,

The shepherd caught him with his crook,

And in his arms his tup he took,

He cut the briars all away,

And fixed him up without delay.

Back to the fold they both did go,

And then a party he did throw,

‘Rejoice with me for I am glad,

My sheep are all back in the pad.’

Part 2

A woman living down the street,

She found her necklace incomplete,

Ten coins it really should have had,

One was lost and she was sad.

She turned her cottage upside down,

It must be here it must be found,

She searched the cupboards, swept the floor,

And looked behind each of the doors.

She moved the carpet and the mat,

And even scurried out the cat,

And as she pushed aside a drawer,

The tiny coin her sharp eyes saw.

It must have tumbled through a crack,

But she was thrilled to get it back,

She called her neighbours and her friends,

‘Rejoice my necklace I can mend.’