Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY August 28th

2 Chronicles 7:13–14

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

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

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

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

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

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

TUESDAY August 27^th

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

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

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

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

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to me and I will answer you.’

Psalm 91:15

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

Luke 11:9–10

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

Hebrews 4:14–16

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

FRIDAY August 9^th

 

Ephesians 6:21-24

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

THURSDAY August 8^th

 

Ephesians 6:21-24

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

WEDNESDAY August 7^th

 

Ephesians 6:19-20

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

For my sake and the gospel’s go

And tell redemption’s story;

His heralds answer. “Be it so,

And thine, Lord, all the glory!”

They preach his birth, his life, his cross,

The love of his atonement,

For whom they count the world but loss,

His Easter, his enthronement.

 

I close this devotion with the words of another song,

 

Tell the whole wide world of Jesus,

Bear the news from shore to shore;

Telling sinners of the Saviour,

Let the light spread more and more.

 

To which we should be willing to reply;

 

Yes, we’ll send the joyful message

Over mountain over wave,

Telling everywhere of Jesus,

And his mighty power to save.

 

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

TUESDAY August 6^th

 

Ephesians 6:19-20

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

 

I looked at these verses briefly, recently, Paul is a prisoner for the gospel, and he needs to have a daily dose of boldness! And don’t we all? I do, and I want us to just take the first four words ‘and also for me’. Paul is asking that the church pray for him.

 

We should never be afraid to ask the local church to pray for ourselves as individuals, we are a body of believers that have been joined together as family who congregate together for the purpose of fellowship. And we are a praying church, we meet every Wednesday at 7pm (although for the month of August we are joining prayer with ministry on a Friday evening) and as we pray, we do pray for one another. But can I encourage you to never be afraid to say those four words regarding prayer, ‘and also for me’. It isn’t always necessary to have to give the details of a need, God knows, but to ask for prayer is a step of faith that says that we believe in the power of prayer and that prayer works.

 

Of course, we must underscore our requests by accepting that we need also to pray that the answer will always be that which is according to his will. Prayer is not an action that can be likened to making a wish, and trusting it will be granted, God is not a genie with a bottle, he is the Almighty omniscient God who knows exactly what we need and will always answer accordingly to that need and accordingly to that which is his will for us.

 

I love the words of this hymn that is found in the Redemption Hymnal, it is taken from a poem that has fourteen verses! I looked it up in my old hymnal and discovered that I had underlined this verse as a youngster

 

I worship thee, sweet will of God!

And all thy ways adore;

And every day I live, I seem (I long)

To love thee more and more.

 

But the verse from the hymn / poem which is by F. W. Faber that I had recalled is this one

 

Ill that he blesses is our good,

And unblessed good is ill;

And all is right that seems most wrong.

If it be his sweet will.

 

When we align our hearts to the will of God, as and when we pray, we will always leave the answer in his hands, understanding that he is the one who has made us, therefore we trust that he is doing that which will in the final analysis bring the greatest glory to himself.

 

Whatever your cares, anxieties, worries, struggles etc. leave it at the throne of grace, hand it over to the safest hands of all, the hands of God. I add a couple more of the verses to close.

 

I have no cares, O blessed will!

For all my cares are thine:

I live in triumph, Lord! for thou

Hast made thy triumphs mine.

 

He always wins who sides with God,

To him no chance is lost;

God’s will is sweetest to him, when

It triumphs at his cost.

 

The day will arrive when all will be revealed, when we stand in his eternal presence, we will understand fully what we cannot fully understand now. Just trust God.

MONDAY August ^5th

 

Ephesians 6:18

‘. . .praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.’

 

If we wanted to make a list of the various themes that crop up in this letter of Paul to the Ephesian church, we would most definitely have the theme of prayer, for as we have covered in the devotions recently, he wanted them to know that he prayed for them and what he had prayed for them. As we come to the closing verses, we see that prayer is the theme again. He uses the words prayer, praying and supplication.

 

He has told them that he prays for them, he tells them that they need to pray for themselves, and he asks that they in turn would pray for him.

 

As we have gone through the various items or aspects of the armour, it is very clear that Paul would say that there is very little point in us putting the armour on, if at the same time we are not going to be a people of prayer. The two must go together.

 

He also says in the following verse, that we are to keep alert with all perseverance. We need as believers to be prayerful and watchful; we always need to be in such a spiritual condition that we can be sensitive to what is going on all around us in the spiritual battle. Ready to react, ready to respond, ready to fight the good fight of the faith, whether it requires an offensive or a defensive response.

 

Sometimes, we will need to defend, and therefore we must speak up and speak out. Sometimes we will just need to stand firm and in our own strength we will fail, but as we pray at all times in the Spirit while at the same time being clothed in the armour, we will be able to persevere against every onslaught that will come against us from ‘the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’, Ephesians 6:11–12.

 

It is a very real battle, and again I remind us that it is ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts’, Zechariah 4:6.

FRIDAY August 2^nd

 

Ephesians 6:17

‘. . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. . .’

 

We come to the final item listed in this incredible armour that God has given us to wear, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

In Hebrews 4:12 we read ‘For 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 sword of the word of God is sharper than any other weapon, now we could picture ourselves as holding the word of God in our hands (something that is increasingly becoming an uncommon sight now, in the age of modern technology, when many just use an app on their phone) but we could also picture ourselves speaking out through our mouths the word of God. (Perhaps I could add in here, how much better it would look if we all still brought physical bibles with us to the house of God).

 

In Luke 4 we see Jesus yielding the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, and he didn’t have a scroll  under his arm which he had to suddenly open and find what he wanted to read, he spoke it out verbally, you will recall the occasion, we call it the time when he was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. On three occasions Jesus quoted the Old Testament scripture, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone”’; ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’; ‘It is said “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”’.

 

And in the wilderness the devil was no match for the two-edged sword!

 

Incidentally, the next time we see Jesus quoting the word of God he did so by reading from a scroll, a physical copy, it is found in the same chapter.

 

We have a powerful weapon at our disposal, the word of God. It is living and it is powerful. We need to read it, mediate upon it, believe it and speak it out.

 

In Jeremiah 23:29 we read ‘Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?’

 

When the enemy comes up against you, give him a good hammering with the word of God, send him packing with his pants on fire.

 

I will end with a quote from Charles Spurgeon ‘The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and it will defend itself.’

THURSDAY August 1^st

 

Ephesians 6:17

‘. . .and take the helmet of salvation.’

 

The next item on our checklist is the helmet of salvation. The first thought that came to me is this, we have the breastplate to protect the heart and the helmet to protect the mind.

 

The helmet of salvation also appears in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 along with the breastplate ‘But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.’

 

We are to do all that we can with the provision or help of God to protect our minds. Someone as once said that the mind is the devil’s playground. If he can get into our minds (as well as into our hearts) he can cause all kinds of trouble, but we have been saved and because of salvation we receive many benefits, of which one is the peace of God which passes all understanding.

 

In the final week that Jesus spent with his disciples, he said to them ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.’ (John 14:27) This peace that calms the heart will also steady our minds. In Philippians 4:7 Paul reminds us ‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ Even in the Old Testament, God promised the nation of Israel his supernatural peace, how much more we who have come by faith into a living and powerful relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can call God our heavenly Father and he would say to us ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.’ (Isaiah 26:3)

 

We need to put the helmet of salvation on and keep it on, so that as we face the many difficulties, sorrows, traumas, troubles and conflicts that will beset us, we will experience the peace of God, peace that is only available to those who through salvation have come to confidently trust him.

 

Why could a man such as H. G. Spafford write the words of the hymn ‘When peace like a river attendeth my way . . . it is well, with my soul’, after having lost a son aged four from Scarlett fever and then a few years later losing his four daughters in a shipping accident in the Atlantic Ocean. It could only be possible because he had learned to put on the helmet of salvation, allowing him to know the undeniable peace of God during his painful circumstances.

 

I do not know what each one who reads these devotions (or listens to) is going through at this moment, but one thing is sure that we also can know the incredible peace that comes through having a confident trust in our heavenly Father and our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Today Jesus would say to each one of us ‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me . . . Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you’. Remember that one of his names is ’The Prince of Peace’!

WEDNESDAY July 31^st

 

Ephesians 6:16

‘In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.’

 

We come today to the next item, and Paul uses the words ‘In all circumstances’, which obviously means ‘all’, that is in absolutely, every circumstance or situation with which we find ourselves, make sure you have taken up the shield of faith.

 

We are saved by faith, we live by faith, we walk by faith, and it is by faith we see the hand of God in and over every circumstance in our lives. Even when the way seems dark, or we cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel, it is by faith we put our hand into God’s hand and trust him to make a way or to take us through.

 

We need to always exercise faith, and in the picture we have here of the whole or the full armour of God it is portrayed as the shield of faith. When the enemy fires something at us, we lift the shield of faith to protect ourselves, it is a declaration that we have absolute full and confident trust in God. In 1 John 5:4 we read ‘For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.’

 

In a previous devotion I quoted the words from Psalm 91:4 (KJV) ‘He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.’ Why is truth represented as a shield here yet as faith in the armour? Well, can I suggest when we come to understand the trustworthiness of God, that he himself is true and his word is truth, we will have the faith required to believe that he will be faithful towards us through every battle that we face. So, our faith is based and built upon his truthfulness.

 

Now what is a buckler as we see here in Psalm 91 (KJV) alongside the word shield? Well, it is another form of shield, and in the Old Testament, it is represented by the faith, trust and the courage that individuals had in God to be with them to protect them. It was a symbol of power and of strength. In 2 Samuel 22:31(KJV) we read ‘As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.’

 

This is another opportunity to remind us that in our own strength and with our own ability we would fail miserably, but as we lift the shield of faith, we are boldly declaring that our faith and trust is in the Lord God. (Does it not remind you of David when he faced Goliath). It is ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD of hosts’.