Category: Devotions

FRIDAY November 8^th

 

For today, we will turn to the seven ‘I am’ statements that Jesus made and read each of them. I am going to be travelling to Hungary later today and will return on Wednesday next week, therefore will have a break from sending the devotions till Monday November 18^th when we will go through each of these statements and see what they tell us about Jesus, and the implication of what he has said for you and I and some of them may lead us into other nuggets of truths about Jesus as well! Remember the theme, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast’ and at the start I said I won’t follow a set pattern!

 

John 6:35 ‘Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”’

 

John 8:12 ‘Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”’

 

John 10:7 ‘So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”’

 

John 10:11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”’

 

John 11:25-26 ‘Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”’

 

John 14:6 ‘Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”’

 

John 15:1 ‘“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”’

 

Well, thank you again to all who continue to read or listen to the devotions.

THURSDAY November 7^th

 

As I continue to take us through some of the names and tiles that are given to Jesus, today I will look at the title which in the Old Testament God used to identify himself to Moses, but which also Jesus used of himself when explaining to people around him as to who he really was. It is the well-known title or very important name the ‘I am’.

 

Let’s today consider it in the context in which it was used as God revealed himself to Moses. Found in Exodus 3. First in verse 6

 

‘And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.’

 

Then in verses 13-15

 

‘Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’

 

An encounter with God and he tells Moses that he is the ‘I AM WHO I AM’, and then says to him when you go say that the ‘I AM has sent me to you, then he clarifies it further by saying that as the ‘I AM’ he is the LORD, the God of your fathers.

 

What we learn is that the two words ‘I AM’ is a title that God used concerning himself as the true and living God, who always has been and always will be. He is the eternal God; he has never known a beginning and he will know no end.  The word LORD in the Old Testament (notice it is all in capital letters) is the divine name YHWH.

 

Now, when it comes to Jesus, it had already been declared by Isaiah that one of the names he was to be given was to be Immanuel, which means God with us. In John 1, we have already seen that John has declared Jesus to be the Word (logos) who was there in the beginning, who was with God, and who was God. But should there still be any doubt concerning Jesus and his deity, and who he really was (and is) we are about to see that in conversation with those around him, he would make several statements that should have finally silenced the doubters, by his declaring to them that he was the ‘I am’! Declaring himself to be God. And it is to those statements, seven in all we will turn to.

WEDNESDAY November 6^th

 

We look today at another of the titles we give to our wonderful Jesus, and it is a title that he alone has the right to own, and it is ‘Saviour’ for there is absolutely nobody else who can be or ever will be a saviour for this world or the Saviour of this world, it is Jesus only! This was the reason why he came into this world; this was the reason why he willingly went to and died at Calvary. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

 

Other religions and faiths will point to what they consider to be the means of entry into heaven, or the basis for receiving eternal life, the way to gain access into the presence of God, but by the very fact that each of them would present an option that by passes Jesus and all that he has done through his atoning death and resurrection is sufficient for us to write them off as false religions, non-starters and therefore to be avoided at all cost.

 

In Acts 4:12, Peter makes this statement ‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’ This is an affirmation of the very words of Jesus himself when he made this very telling ‘I am’ statement in John 14:6 ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

 

When he was writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul reminded them and of course us today as well that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, then continues to say that we have been made alive again, and in verses 12-18 he says this ‘And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father’. This again confirms what Jesus declared that our access, anyone’s access to the Father is only through the one who came and preached peace, the Lord Jesus Christ who is still the only way.

 

As our Saviour he has saved us, he has redeemed us, he has provided the means by which we have been cleansed and forgiven, his shed blood, and in saving us he has delivered us from the punishment we all deserved for our sin, he has removed from upon us the wrath of God which we all deserved and he has brought us into a dynamic and powerful relationship with the one whom we had offended—almighty God and in such an incredible way that we can now know him and call him our heavenly Father. What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Jesus, what a wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord.

Perhaps someone may read this today and you are relying on some other means to get you into heaven, well if it doesn’t involve Jesus and what he has done for you at Calvary then you are heading down a road that will lead to destruction, it most definitely will not lead you to eternal redemption. Another important statement that Jesus made about himself is this ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

 

No one else can make these claims, no other prophet, no other god, ONLY JESUS, anyone else you may be trusting in is a thief and a robber. Come to Jesus today and accept him as Saviour, this is the only way.

TUESDAY November 5^th

 

Philippians 2:9-11

‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

 

When it comes to the purpose for which Jesus came into this world, we know from the name Jesus it was to be the one who would save his people from their sins. So, in the next devotion we will see him as Saviour. With the titles ‘Christ and  Messiah’ we see Jesus as being the ONLY one who had been sent from God as the anointed one to be the Saviour, but with the title which we have today from Philippians 2, we see that as a result of his obedience in coming into this world and humbling himself to death on the cross that he was not only raised from the dead, but also ascended back to the Father and given the name which is above every other name, the name to which EVERY knee will bow and which EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Jesus is Lord, Jesus Christ is Lord, HE IS LORD! So, our title today is Lord. There are many other scriptures that affirm this, for example on the road to Damascus when Saul encountered Jesus he says, ‘Who are you Lord’, we see the title used in a number of ways, for example on its own in Acts 2:21, ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’. Or linked to the name Jesus Acts 8:16 ‘they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus’, and also linked with both the name Jesus and Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:57 ‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ and then as another example, we have in Acts 10:36 ‘preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).’

 

Initially it is a title that refers to Jesus as being God, for it is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew YHWH, God, so Jesus was already Lord before our text, but here in our text, it refers to Jesus as having power and authority, he is Lord over everything.

 

 In Matthew 28 just as Jesus is about to return to heaven, he made this statement ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’, (28:18).

 

But for us today we need to come to the place of allowing Jesus to be Lord in our lives. Nothing can take away from the fact that he is Lord. This can never and will never be changed, it is eternally set, and one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, but as we have come to know him as Saviour (the title we will turn to in our next devotion) we need also to surrender to his Lordship in our lives.

 

MONDAY November 4^th

 

Acts 3:6

‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.’

 

As I continue in the devotions and return to Acts 3:6, we see that linked to the name Jesus, Peter used another name or title, ‘Christ’. In Matthew 16, Jesus asked the disciples a question, ‘Who do men say that the Son of Man is?’ and they begin to give some answers: ‘“Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”’ But then came the big test, ‘“But who do you say that I am?”’ and in verse 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 

He makes two statements concerning Jesus. You are 1) The Christ, 2) The Son of the living God, and our devotion today is based around the first statement ‘You are the Christ’.

 

The name Christ identifies Jesus as being the One who had been sent from God, it is linked to the name ‘Messiah’, together these titles or names identify Jesus as actually being the one that the Jews were waiting and longing for. The one who had been promised through the psalms and the prophets who would be as we saw when Simeon saw him in the temple ‘the consolation of Israel’ and Simeon on seeing the baby Jesus recognised him as the ‘Lord’s Christ’. (Luke 2:25-26)

 

The sad reality is that when it eventually came time to not only recognise and accept Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the people instead chose to reject him, which led of course to Jesus being taken and crucified. But thank God that what seemed to be a negative was all a part of God’s eternal plan for salvation, and we read in Acts 2 the following ‘this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men’, and in those awful moments of crucifixion the most amazing transaction took place, for the One who was named Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, and the account in Acts continues ‘God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it’ (v24) and then ‘Being therefore a prophet, (that is David) and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.’

What we see is that Jesus was the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy in so many ways, but here fulfilling the prophetic statements of the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ, the sent One, the promised One, the Messiah (Psalm 16:10).

 

It is a mystery in so many ways, the very fact that those whom he came for so openly rejected him, yet as a result we who are Gentiles by birth can come not only to accept him as Saviour but also as the Lord Jesus Christ.  

 

Now the verses from Acts 2 continue with the following, ‘Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ This takes us to the next title for which we will turn to Philippians 2, the title of ‘Lord’.

FRIDAY November 1^st

 

I am going to return to Luke 4 again today for it is in this chapter that we see two more names / titles given to Jesus, and they were used by a man who had an unclean spirit. They are found in verse 35 ‘Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.’

 

As Jesus began to do what he said he would do, which was to proclaim liberty to the captives and to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18) he immediately came into contact with one who was a captive, one who was oppressed and the demon possessing the man was not happy. See he knew that although the enemy held some power, Jesus was far more powerful and he began to speak out concerning Jesus. Now, isn’t it interesting that although men and women will deny who Jesus really is, the devil and the demons affirm it! And what is more they know that when Jesus is about then they know that they are in dire trouble!

 

For Jesus rebuked the demon and delivered the man from it.

 

Notice the demon recognised Jesus as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and then as the ‘Holy One from God’.

 

But let’s also notice that as the Holy One from God, Jesus of Nazareth is more powerful than the devil and his demons! They cannot stay when Jesus is about, in the words of one of Charles Wesley’s hymns ‘Jesus the name high over all . . . angels and men before it fall and devils fear and fly’.

 

But again let’s notice that in using these two titles, the demon is declaring the deity of the Lord Jesus! As ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ it points to Jesus as a man, for it points to him as being the man called Jesus that everyone at that time would have known about, and then as the ‘Holy One from God’ it points to Jesus as being God and yet from God. Reaffirming all we read in John 1.

 

I am going to jump ahead a little, and remind us of another occasion where Jesus is referred to as being from Nazareth, with an additional word used which is the title we will turn to in our next devotion. It is in Acts 3 on the occasion when Peter and John are making there way up to the temple at the hour of prayer and they come across a lame man who is begging for alms and in verse 6 Peter says to him ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.’

 

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—there is power in the name of Jesus, power to disrupt and destroy the devil and demons, power to bring deliverance and healing because it is the name of the One who alone has been sent from God to set the captive free.

 

Keep speaking, keep singing, keep declaring the wonderful and the powerful name of Jesus of Nazareth.

THURSDAY October 31^st

 

Today I am going to continue with the devotions by quoting another of the verses from the hymn, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee’ and it is verse 2

 

Nor voice can sing,

Nor heart can frame,

Nor can the memory find

A sweeter name than thy blest name,

O Saviour of mankind.

 

I have already in these devotions considered something concerning the name of Jesus, in particular the name Jesus which the angel instructed Mary and Joseph to call him when he was born. I have mentioned some of the other names and titles which he holds, and you may recall I quoted some hymns that are based on the name of Jesus.

 

As we move forward I will consider some more of his names or titles which help us to understand more of who he is and of what he has done and what he has become to each one of us who know him as Saviour and this is the first we will look at ‘Saviour’. You will recall that he was to be called Jesus because ‘he will save his people from their sins’, Matthew 1:21.

 

It would be correct to say that mankind needed a Saviour more than anything else. For myself, one of the number of reasons why I would say that I love the name of Jesus is because he has done for me exactly what I needed. He has done for you exactly what you needed, and if you do not know Jesus he has done for you exactly what you need.

 

He came into this world as we read in 1 Timothy 1:15 ‘to save sinners’, he came into this world to do all that God would require of him on our behalf, and in our place, he came as a substitute and as the substitute to be the sacrifice that would bring about our eternal salvation.

 

Romans 6:23 tells us that the ‘wages of sin is death’, we are all born sinners and are headlong towards death, not just physical death but spiritual death, but Jesus came from God to become our Saviour, and to offer us the free gift of eternal life and in obedience he went to Calvary, and there as he hung on the cross, he took our sins and our sorrows and he made them his very own. And God accepted this incredible sacrifice and as we have come to believe in him we have received eternal life.

 

As our Saviour, he has taken from us the punishment we deserved, he has taken off us the wrath of God that we deserved, he has granted us forgiveness and he has given or imputed to us his own righteousness and as a result we stand before God justified.

 

No one else has done this, because no one else has been sent from God to be the Saviour of the world, therefore there is no sweeter name than his blest name, the Saviour of mankind.

 

O what a Saviour that he died for me!

From condemnation he has made me free;

He that believeth on the Son, saith he,

Hath everlasting life.

WEDNESDAY October 30^th

 

Now, I am continuing the same theme from the previous devotion within the overall theme of these devotions, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee’, for going back again to Luke 4, after Jesus had read from the prophet Isaiah, it says this ‘And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him’, verse 21.

 

We have already noticed how quickly their attitude changed towards Jesus. On reading this verse I immediately thought of what it says in Hebrews 12 where we are told to keep looking to Jesus, who is the founder and perfector of our faith.

 

See, back in the synagogue, those in attendance took their eyes off who Jesus really was and began to see him from the natural, the viewpoint of who they saw his father to be, Joseph rather than God.

 

The moment we take our eyes off Jesus and begin to doubt concerning who he really is and all that he has done, we will slip back into the old nature. We need to ensure that we firmly fix our eyes on Jesus, determined and resolute to throw off every weight and sin that would so easily stop us or prevent us from finishing the race. For Jesus who is the reason for us starting in this race is also the one who will welcome us as we complete the race! He will be the prize!

 

What are we fixing our eyes upon? What are we allowing to take up our time which could be hindering us on our spiritual journey as we run this amazing race?

What could be causing the sweetness of Jesus to lose his sweetness in our lives?

 

Don’t let anyone or anything change your attitude towards Jesus, always remember that he is the only one sent from God, he is the only one who has given his life for you, he is the only one that has the power to forgive you, and he is the only one who can grant you eternal life. He is the only one through whom you can arrive in the eternal presence of God, so keep your eyes focused and fixed upon him.

 

Don’t allow anything else to fill you nor to thrill you in the same way that Jesus should for, ‘Jesus our only joy be thou as thou our prize wilt be; Jesus be thou, our glory now and through eternity’.

TUESDAY October 29^th

 

I finished the previous devotion off with the 5^th verse of the hymn, Jesus the very thought of thee. And I want to base this devotion on those words, ‘Jesus, our only joy be thou, as thou our prize wilt be; Jesus, be thou our glory now, and through eternity.’

 

Remember that we saw how those who were astonished and marvelled at Jesus in Luke 4:22 very quickly had a change of heart and by the time we get to verse 28 they became filled with wrath.

 

In John 6, we have the account that follows on from the feeding of the 5000 where Jesus has declared that he is the bread of life, and after some conversation it says in verse 66 ‘After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him’.

 

Sadly, many who have come to accept Jesus Christ and followed him for a while have chosen to do what these people did, either they have decided they no longer want him and have thrown him out of their lives or have turned back and no longer walk with him. I suggest that in the words of the hymn, they have taken their eyes off the prize, they have chosen to try and get their joy from another source. But I trust that each one reading this can say ‘Jesus be thou our glory now, and through eternity’.

 

I have mentioned before both in the devotions and when preaching that we need to do a regular spiritual health check-up, to ensure that we are still following Jesus as closely as we ought, is he still our hearts desire, is he still the source of our joy. We need to keep ensuring that we are not allowing other things to be the desire of our hearts and other things to give us joy, other things that take up or take away that which should be given to Jesus.

 

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

 

 ‘I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’, Philippians 3:14.

MONDAY October 28^th

 

As I continue with the theme of these devotions, ‘Jesus the very thought of thee’ I am continuing with Luke 4 and what was said about Jesus after he had spoken the words from the prophet Isaiah. Luke 4:20-22 ‘And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marvelled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”’

 

Jesus has stood up, he had read from Isaiah, he sat down and then he spoke these words, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’.

 

It would have been a great honour to have been in that synagogue on that day and to have listened to Jesus and to have literally seen scripture being fulfilled in front of you, and it says that those in attendance spoke well of him and marvelled at his gracious words. Something about this man Jesus had an impact on them, but then they started questioning concerning who he really was, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’

 

Now Jesus must have heard some of the conversation because he then challenges them in the following verses, which lead us to verses 28-29 where they were no longer astonished, but rather enraged, filled with wrath, and they drove him out of the town, determined to throw him over a cliff. Wow, what a change of heart!

 

When it comes to the message and the person of Jesus, we see the same thing today, there are those who are astonished and amazed such as we whose blind eyes have been opened, and there are those who are full of fury and rage, they may not show it openly, but they show it by their continual rejection of him. They question who Jesus really is, and they reject him out of hand.

 

And we could say today concerning our nation, that whereas in our recent history, Jesus was welcomed in our classrooms, in our families, in our government, and many of us can recall that we could hold a Sunday School or a children’s club and the children in the local community would willingly come in, but not today unless you are giving out social handouts.

See who Jesus is and what he has come to proclaim no longer suits the agenda of our society, his morals, his righteousness no longer fits in with the lifestyle our society wants to live and the ideology it wants to promote. Just as the crowd wanted to throw Jesus over a cliff, our modern secular society has thrown Jesus out.

 

More than ever before we who have come to love Jesus and chosen to live according to his standards need to proclaim Jesus. Reaffirming in our hearts and by the very lives that we live that Jesus is Lord and that in the words of the hymn I am basing these thoughts on, that the very thought of him, with sweetness fills our breast. The same hymn continues, ‘Jesus, our only joy be thou, as thou our prize wilt be; Jesus, be thou our glory now, and through eternity.’