Category: Devotions

FRIDAY January 10^th

 

. . .  continued from previous devotion

 

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

 

Finally, and so a slightly shorter devotion today, verse 4 tells us that we can trust in the Lord forever, that is not only speaking of unending time, but I think it means in the troublesome times in which we are living, that is we can perpetually trust him, keep on trusting him, all the time throughout all we go through for he the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

 

When we connect this to the perfect peace, it means that as we keep our minds focused on him, we will discover that in these shaky times we are firmly fixed on a perfect and eternally fixed rock. See GOD cannot be moved!

 

We all know so well the 46th Psalm that says that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

 

But the psalm then tells us that although the earth will give way, the mountains be moved, the waters roar and foam, and the mountains tremble at its swelling, our confidence because of who God is, is this, we say ‘THEREFORE we will not fear! (v2)

 

And how can this be, it is because as we keep our mind stayed upon God instead of being stayed upon the troublesome world and our troubling circumstances we will have and know his perfect peace.

 

Psalm 46 encourages us to ‘Be still’. So ‘be still’ in the midst of all that is going on around you, whether in your own life, your home, your family, the school, college, university, the workplace, etc. and know that the I am is God.

 

And reminding us of what Jesus himself said, the One who Isaiah has told us was to be called the Prince of Peace,

 

John 14:27

 

‘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 16:33

 

‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’

 

So, to close the devotions for this the first full week of 2025, Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

THURSDAY January 9^th

 

. . .  continued from previous devotion

 

If you were at the AGM last November, you will recall that I spoke from these verses in Philippians 4:4-7

 

‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. 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. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

 

And Paul continues to tell us what it is we need to set our minds upon, those things that we need to be thinking about verses 8-9

 

‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.’

 

I have said it before, but it is worth saying again, as we consider these things that are true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellence, worthy of praise, it is perfect picture of who Jesus is! So, we think about Jesus, set our minds on Jesus! And the peace of God will be with you!

 

If we keep our minds stayed on God and our thoughts thinking of Jesus,  and we are consistent in our trust in God, and our trust in Jesus, he will keep us in his perfect peace! Jesus himself said to the disciples, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.’ The NLT puts it this way ‘Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me’ (John 14:1).

 

The word ‘stayed’ in Isaiah 26:3 in the ESV is translated as

 

‘Steadfast’ in the NIV

‘Fixed’ in the NLT

‘Dependant’ in the CSB

‘Maintain their faith’ in the NET

 

The original Amplified says this ‘You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You’.

 

The later Amplified says this ‘You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on you—in both inclination and character].’

 

I think we could take each of these various translations and when we apply them to our own hearts, we surely can see that it could be so easy for us to lose out on this perfect peace because we allow our minds and the inclination of our hearts to dwell on that which is not wholesome toward our spiritual well-being!

 

Peace is available, perfect peace is available to us all and through all of our circumstances as we keep our minds fixed on the Peace giver himself.

 

to be continued . . .

WEDNESDAY January 8^th

 

. . .  continued from previous devotion

 

You will remember for 2024 the motto had been from Zechariah 4:6

 

‘Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’

 

And we still hold onto this verse, but specifically for 2025 it is to be Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

We are most definitely living in troublesome times. Almost every day we hear of things that alarm us and would cause us perhaps to become even fearful as to what is going to happen next, and the remedy for the believer is to allow the peace of God to fill us and to grip our hearts instead of allowing fear to grip us.

 

Beside the troublesome circumstances that we see in the world, we all if not all the time are often faced with our own troubling circumstances—sickness, employment worries, family circumstances, stressful moments, what will trouble me may be different to what troubles you, we could add so much to the list, but we need to allow the peace of God to come and to fill our hearts in such a way that the fear that we can allow these things to grip us with is squeezed out.

 

When it comes to the peace that I am talking about, these verses tell us this important point ‘YOU’ keep him in perfect peace’, GOD himself will keep us in perfect peace, we thank God for all those who can help us in so many ways, but the highest and best source of lasting peace is to be found in heaven itself, from the One who created us and knows every intricate detail about us. He knows exactly how each one of us is wired up and he can put his finger onto any and every troubling situation and give us peace.

 

The source of the peace couldn’t be any better! You know what it is like when you are looking for a product, you do a few checks, maybe look at some of the reviews to see that the product is fit for purpose, well, search out the word of God concerning the peace of God and see the reviews, and I can assure you it rates as the highest, and as the best! It is described as ‘perfect peace’.

 

But then we need to look a little further into these verses, for there are two conditions attached to this promise of being kept in perfect peace and it is found in these words ‘whose mind is stayed on you’ and ‘because he trusts in you’.

 

We need to remain in the place where having come by faith to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that we continue to exercise that trust, and we do it by ensuring that our MINDS have become so altered by the message of the Cross that we set our minds upon those things that pertain to what it truly means to be a child of God.

 

to be continued . . .

TUESDAY January 7^th

 

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.’

 

The different verses that we read yesterday, all say something about peace, and if I were to sum them up quickly, they are all concerning the peace of God, the peace that comes from God and it is peace that is all wrapped up in the Son of God. It is peace that is only found through having a right relationship with God that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

See it is a peace that cannot be found anywhere else, definitely not through the United Nations, it is different and far superior to any effort of peace that can be found in this world, it is peace that comes through the one who is called the Prince of Peace, and initially brought to us at the Cross, for as Paul reminds us in Ephesians chapter two that Jesus came and as verse 17 says

 

‘He came and preached peace to you that were far off (that is to the Gentile) and to those who were near (that is to the Jew).

 

And how was this peace preached or declared? At the Cross, for verses 13-16 says

 

‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.’

 

We all need to know what it is to have peace with God – the sin that had separated us needed to be taken away, the barrier removed, the hostility removed, the tension removed, and it has happened for us who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and it can happen to who read this today who have yet not come to accept Jesus as Saviour. For without Jesus as your Saviour you cannot and do not have peace with God.

 

But we also need to know what it is to have peace from God, for although the relationship between us and God has been restored, we still live in a troubled world, we all go through life experiences that can cause us to be troubled, disturbed, anxious and fearful, yet the Prince of Peace brings to us, offers to us his peace as we make the journey on earth through to our eventual arrival in heaven.

 

to be continued . . .

 

MONDAY January 6^th

 

Well that is the Christmas and New Year break over and as I get back into sending the devotions, for this week, I am going to break down the ministry that I brought to the church at Emmanuel on the Sunday morning of December 22^nd into a few segments as not all the fellowship were present and may not have turned to the video to watch and listen.

 

The reason for this is that the ministry I gave was linked to the verses that I shared at the AGM in November as being the verses I believe that the Holy Spirit had led me to for our motto for 2025. It also gives the opportunity for those who were there to read it through and to be reminded, for there is no doubt today that we need the promise of peace as contained in these verses.

 

Here are the verses from Isaiah 26:3-4

 

 ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock’,

 

and then for today, the other verses that I shared that are linked to peace and sometimes it does us good to just stop and to meditate upon what it is we have read from the word of God.

 

Isaiah 9:6-7

 

‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’

 

John 14:27

 

‘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 16:33

 

‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’

 

Philippians 4:7

 

‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’

 

to be continued . . .

FRIDAY December 20^th

 

I am going to take us to one of my favourite carols today, I love the tune, and I love the words, ‘Silent night, Holy night’ and here is verse 3 depending upon which version you use, for as it is with many carols the words seem to be altered according to the source or song book used.

 

Silent night! Holy night!

Son of God, love’s pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

 

I wonder if asked how you would sum up that first ‘Christmas’ morning, I wonder what you would say. I think it could be summed up in many ways, possibly none better than the way the angel summed it up to the shepherds (oh dear the shepherds again! blame my farming background for being drawn to them!) ‘“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,”’ Luke 2:10–11.

 

But I think that the fourth line of the verse that I have quoted above, is a good summary ‘with the dawn of redeeming grace’, for there in the cradle or manger whatever word you want to use was ‘grace’, and not just grace but ‘redeeming grace’. For the scripture tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

 

Think about it, we are all born in sin, and as sinners we are dead, cut off from God and deserving of all that God has prepared for the children of disobedience.

 

YET despite mankind’s ongoing rebellion toward God, which initially came through the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden, God out of his abounding love and because of his amazing grace and astonishing mercy, chose to take the steps necessary to bring about an incredible plan of salvation, and God chose, planned and prepared even before the foundation of the world that he would show his grace to fallen humanity by becoming man, by being born in the humblest of circumstances and so the birth of the baby marked the dawn of redeeming grace.

 

John tells us in the first chapter of his gospel, ‘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.’ The baby in the manger was full of grace, I suggest also that he was and is grace, for Jesus himself is grace, or grace is Jesus. And in Ephesians 2, Paul reminds us that it is by grace we are saved—that is redeeming grace.

 

So, give thanks this Christmas season, for the dawn of redeeming grace, and remember we are still in the day of God’s grace, and it is through the preaching of, or our sharing of the gospel, be it from the pulpit or our personal witness that God by his Spirit is still reaching out to broken lives with his redeeming grace.

 

This is the final devotion for 2024 as I will have a break over the next two weeks from sending them out, giving me opportunity to catch up with preparing more for the new year, recommencing on January 6^th. So, thank you to all who have either read the devotions or listened to the audio versions. On behalf of Emmanuel Pentecostal Church in Gateshead I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

THURSDAY December 19^th

 

As I began to prepare this devotion I had turned to another carol, and read some of the verses and then thought to myself, ‘O no, it’s the shepherds again’ and then decided what is wrong with that, it is amazing how God chose that within the nativity as we have it recorded in Matthew and Luke to proclaim the birth of Jesus to both the ones considered to be of a lowly occupation, the shepherds on the local hillside and to the ones at the other end of the scale, the wise men or as we often refer to them as the three kings from orient far.

 

And then to top it all, God plans everything so that the baby was born in the lowliest of circumstances, we usually depict as being in a manager in a cattle’s stall.

 

The carol I turned to is ‘Christians awake, salute the happy morn’, and verse 4:

 

To Bethlehem straight the enlightened shepherds ran,

To see the wonder God had wrought for man:

Then to their flocks, still praising God return,

And their glad hearts with holy rapture burn;

Amazed, the wonderous tidings they proclaim,

The first apostles of his infant fame.

 

It was the first two lines ‘To Bethlehem straight the enlightened shepherd ran, to see the wonder God had wrought for man’.

 

I mentioned while speaking recently, of how many have watched their children taking part in nativity plays in school or in Sunday school and yet have missed the wonder of what the story is all about. That God sent Jesus into this world to save sinners. And in doing so bringing hope, joy, peace and love.

 

What if the shepherds had ignored the angel announcing the news and the angelic choir singing the praises of God—you can imagine that as word had spread concerning as to what had happened in the cattle shed, and they heard it from others, the regret that would have been in their hearts for not going. But they didn’t ignore, they listened and as Luke 2:16 says ‘they made haste’ and found everything exactly as the angel had announced.

 

Sadly today, as we go through this advent season, many will still ignore the wonder of the message, and the reality of the historical fact that Jesus did come into this world and that he did die to be the Saviour of the world. They will get so wrapped up in everything else that takes place without coming to bow before the newborn king. And the even sadder reality is that one day, they will find themselves standing before God in the presence of Jesus, but then it will be too late, and they will be full of regret for ignoring the real meaning of Christmas and regret their rejection of Jesus.

 

This carol also reminds us of what Luke records for us in his gospel, that having discovered the joy of Jesus, the shepherds ‘made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child’. A lot of folks won’t go to watch a nativity, may not even enter a Church over this advent season, but they may listen as we who have found Jesus seek to tell them something of this amazing story.

WEDNESDAY December 18^th

 

The Redemption Hymnal has a hymn in the section called ‘His Incarnation’ which is found in the ‘His Character and Tiles’ section in Making Melody. I don’t have access to a collection of Carols as I prepare this devotion to see if it is included, but it is a hymn that is rich in theology concerning the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is this and evidently based upon John chapter 1 ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.’

 

Thou art the Everlasting Word,

The Father’s only Son;

God, manifestly seen and heard,

And heaven’s beloved One.

 

In Thee, most perfectly expressed,

The Father’s glories shine;

Of the full deity possessed;

Eternally divine.

 

But the high myst’ries of Thy name

An angel’s grasp transcend:

The Father’s only—glorious claim—

The Son can comprehend.

 

Yet, loving Thee, on whom His love

Ineffable doth rest,

Thy glorious worshippers above,

As one with Thee are blest.

 

Worthy, O Lamb of God art Thou,

That every knee to Thee should bow.

 

The chorus of this powerful hymn leads us to a place of worship, where in our seeing who Jesus really is, we cry out ‘Worthy, O Lamb of God art thou’ and we willingly, now, in the present, bow the knee before him.

 

In the nativity, those who saw the baby Jesus or the boy child Jesus came to a place of worship! Even before he had gone to Calvary and died for them, and it is because they saw him not just as a child but as the Christ, as the One born to be the Saviour of the world.

 

Luke tells us concerning the shepherds that after seeing the Word who had become flesh, they returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen’ and why? Because it was as it had been told them. Matthew tells us that when the wise men saw him, they fell down and worshiped him.

 

Well, we will enjoy so many different aspects of the Christmas celebrations but let us make sure that we place priority to the place of worship. In the words of a couple of other carols, ‘O come let us adore him’ and ‘Come and worship Christ, the newborn King’ for, ‘Worthy, O Lamb of God art Thou, That every knee to Thee should bow.’

TUESDAY December 17^th

 

Today I am going to turn our attention to a carol, which I have picked up since we have been living here in the northeast seems to be a favourite with some in our fellowship and having experienced or so far experiencing our fifth full winter here, I can see that you understand what bleak mid-winter really means! Yes, the carol is ‘In the bleak mid-winter.

 

I am not too sure that the scene fits in with what it would have been like on the night when our Saviour was born, but it does fit in with the time of the year in which we in the UK remember his birth. But I am not going to concentrate on the cold wintery scene, but rather on the last of the four verses:

 

What can I give him,

poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd,

I would bring a lamb;

if I were a wise man,

I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give him –

give my heart.

 

This verse always brings a challenge to me, for it reminds me that God loved me (and of course you as well as you read this devotion) that he gave his very best for me, his one and only Son, or as we read in Mark 1:11, his beloved Son. And his Son in turn also gave of his very best for me, he gave up his life. And the more I consider this and then answer the question in this fourth verse, ‘What can I give him?’ The only answer can be that I must give him my heart.

 

And this brings a further challenge, what does our giving him our heart really mean. What does it look like? Well, another well-known hymn, ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’, helps us to understand it and it is in the final two lines of the last verse, ‘Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all’.

 

It means that we empty our lives of all that is against God, against his demands, against his word, against his will and we allow him to completely fill us with himself and all that is in accord to being a man or a woman who claims to be his child through new birth.

Christ emptied himself to come into this world and we on receiving him need to empty ourselves of the world and allow him to be Lord.

 

Well, I haven’t given a scripture yet, especially as it is a devotion, and there is only one I can add that ties in with it all and it is this one from Deuteronomy 6:5 ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.’ Quoted by Jesus himself in Mark 12:30 ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

MONDAY December 16^th

 

Over the next few devotions, I am going to be taking a break from the series we are going through at the moments and bring some devotions looking at some of the songs or carols that we sing during the Christmas period.

 

I think that a favourite for many is ‘Joy to the world, the Lord has come!’ by Isaac Watts (1674-1748).

 

It is a wonderful hymn that starts off by recalling one of the most wonderful of all announcements that has have been delivered on earth and heard by mankind and particularly the shepherds who were watching their sheep the same night that an important baby was born, and this was the announcement:

 

‘And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”’ Luke 2:10-12 These verses are my favourite verses that are to be found in the nativity story.

 

It was a message that the world needed to hear way back then two thousand years ago, for what a moment in time it truly was when God’s Son took on flesh and entered this world through such a miraculous way to become the one who would be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

 

And it is the message that the world needs to hear today, that there is joy for this world that is full of so much angst and desperately looking for peace and it is to be found in the One who yes, entered this world two thousand years ago, but not just as the baby whose birth we celebrate , but more importantly as the One who gave his life to bring the peace that we all so much need, first peace with God, as he took upon himself our sins and our sorrows, bearing all that was needed to bring us the opportunity of forgiveness and reconciliation to God, and secondly to bring peace between mankind, for he was to be named among many other names the Prince of peace.

 

Joy can only come when we know what it is to have peace, and so we need firstly to accept the One who himself is peace, allowing him to come into our lives and to change us and transform us.

 

So, as we go through this Christmas season, let us all ensure that in the two lines found within this hymn, I struggle to call it a carol for they are words we should be singing all year round, ‘Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare him room’.

 

As you read or listen to this devotion, have you received this wonderful King, for the second verse reminds us that he is also the Saviour, yes, he reigns, but we need him to also reign in our hearts. Make room, prepare room for him in your heart today.