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Daily Devotion May 15th

FRIDAY 15th

Reading – Romans 8

The Lockdown or the restrictions we have had over the last eight weeks will have affected us all, some have been almost like prisoners in their own homes, others will have had a little more freedom and been able to go for a walk each day or out to do a shop, while others have had to continue to go out to work because they have been classed as essential or key workers, then there are those who either themselves or family members will have suffered the virus and had their lives affected in ways unimaginable just a few months ago. At this point I want to add my personal thanks and appreciation to everyone who has kept going, working on the front line as an essential worker, the farmers and production workers along with the shop workers keeping shops stocked for our daily provision, the Government and the team working with the Government who have had to and will yet have to make tough, difficult decisions to anticipate us pulling through this pandemic, and the NHS and associate workers who have risked all to bring the healthcare needed during this time.

We have gone out on the doorstep each Thursday evening to clap them  and the appreciation needs to be continued afterward. We also thank God for the way he has undertaken for us as a Church family, we have prayed, and God has heard our prayers and will continue to do so.

For us personally, the restrictions have meant that our house has been delayed, our belongings will remain in storage in North Wales for longer than anticipated, our holiday to Australia that should have started on May 13th has had to be postponed, and it will be longer before we can finally settle down properly to the new life up here in the North East of England that commenced in mid-February. To be honest it certainly was not how we had planned it to work out when we put the ball in motion to relocate last year. BUT and it is a big BUT, God has not been caught out! He knew exactly what was going to happen. When I thought we would be in Perth, God knew we would still be in Middlesbrough, when I thought we would have had the keys to our new house and the furniture in, God knew it would still be in storage and the keys not ready to hand over. And why can I say this? And why do I believe it? To put simply because I believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe that as we have surrendered our lives over to him, God is control of our every situation. For us and for you that are reading this.

In the book of Jonah, we see how God had control over Jonah’s circumstances. Jonah was asked to go to Tarshish, but he ran away, it was God who provided the storm! (Jonah 1:4) As a result of the storm Jonah was thrown overboard, it was God who provided the big fish, (1:17) Jonah was spewed out on the dry land, it was God that manoeuvred the big fish from the depths of the sea to the shore line, (2:10) Jonah obeyed the second time, and preached and the people repented, it was God’s right to not do what he said he would do to the people of Nineveh, (3:10) Jonah got angry with God and sulked, it was God who provided a plant to grow and give Jonah shade (4:6) and the next day it was God who caused the plant to shrivel up and die, (4:7) and to cap it all it was God who declared to Jonah, you pity the plant, should I not show pity to Nineveh, (4:10-11) and why? because God is sovereign, he is in control of every situation.

We cannot always understand the way we have to take, but we trust God. With the world-wide pandemic, humanly speaking we do not understand and may ask a thousand plus questions, but God knows, and in and through it all God is working out his divine will and purpose.

This has been a shorter than normal devotion, but it’s purpose is to give us all hope, in the midst of everything all around us God is in control, as he was there every step of the way in Jonah’s circumstance, so he is with ours. And hey, be grateful that during the lock down we are in our own homes – Jonah spent his in the belly of the fish!

A couple of closing verses:

From our reading today Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’

1 Corinthians 7:17 ‘Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.’

Job 42:1-2 ‘Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’

Psalm 42:5 ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation.’

And we know that all things work together

Yes we know that all things work together

For those who are called

Those who love God

Those who are called

Called to Your purpose

All things work together

All things work together

All things work together

Work together for good

So we lift up our hearts

Lift up our hands

Lift up our hope in You

Though we may not yet understand

We know it’s true

Twila Paris CCLI788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 14th

THURSDAY 14th

Reading – John 4:1-54

In our devotion on Monday, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan, I mentioned a verse from our reading today (v9) that says that the Jews do not associate with Samaritans. In this chapter today, we discover that Jesus practised what he preached in that he was willing to associate with those who his kinsmen would refuse to associate with.

We probably know the story well, having just read it, I don’t need to recount it all but what we will have discovered is that as a result of Jesus being willing to associate with this woman, it led to many more Samaritans coming to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. (verses 39-42)

Now this woman was not just a Samaritan, but she was an adulterer, a serial adulterer, that is why she had to come alone to the well, she shouldn’t even associate with her own people, let alone a man who was a Jew! But in God’s plan she had a divine appointment, that would take place, regardless of the protocol or prejudice of the time. It wasn’t by chance that Jesus had to go through Samaria, it wasn’t by chance he sat at the well at the time when this woman would come, it wasn’t by chance that the disciples were not around, it wasn’t even by chance that Jesus was weary, thus needing at that moment to stop and rest. It was all because of a divine timetable. The woman did not know it at the time when she arrived at the well, but she soon discovered that this was a moment that was going to change her life forever. An encounter with Jesus. She went to the well to get her daily supply of natural water, but got far more than she had bargained for, she came away with living and eternal water.

Thinking back to the parable of the good Samaritan, we saw how the Samaritan, who according to the culture of the time, should have walked past the beaten up Jew, but he threw protocol or prejudice out of the window and went to his aid and actually went above and beyond. (Luke 10:34-35) Continually through the life and ministry of Jesus, we read that he also did the same, he was willing to associate with the publicans and sinners, he went to the outcast, he reached out to the helpless and hopeless, he listened to the cry of the beggar, he answered the call of those who were of the upper strands of society or the lower strands, he was willing to go to anyone who called out to him for his help.

Another Scripture we used on Monday, was from the book of James, which reminded us that we should show evidence of our faith by our works, in this same letter James also says that we shouldn’t show prejudice toward anyone, in the ESV I use, the heading is ‘the sin of partiality’ the NIV heading is ‘favouritism forbidden’ the text is James 2:1-9 ‘My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”  have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honourable name by which you were called? If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.’

We are living in a multi-cultural society and we are living in a depraved society, and although we would not accept so much that comes from other cultures, such as religion and practise etc, and we would not accept the lifestyle of many in society, and although there is so much going on around us that we as the redeemed of the Lord do not like and cannot embrace, we should never be prejudice against individuals, the gospel is for the whosoever, Jesus loves the whosoever, Jesus came to die for the whosoever, and he wants us who are born again, to be the conduits of his love and the demonstrators of his compassion in the world around us to day. It doesn’t mean we should overlook the sin, Jesus didn’t, remember he told the woman taken in adultery, to go and sin no more, but we should seek to love them, and pray for them and look for opportunities in sharing God’s love and compassion, to point them to Jesus, the only One who can enable them to know their lives turned around and to bring their lifestyle in harmony to what the Word of God reveals.

The days are long gone where we could think that we are all chips off the same block.  There is so much variance amongst us in our communities, lifestyle, religion, race, culture, behaviour, but there is still only One true and Living God, there is still only one way to eternal life, there is only one source for eternal hope, and it is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we who know him, need to reveal Jesus to the people around us that together, as they come to believe we will become one in Christ Jesus.

As I close this devotion, we will look at Revelation 5:9-10 as you read it, imagine how different it would read if Jesus had been prejudiced to any who were not a Jew! ‘And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’

Thank God, he found me despite who or what I may have been and that he is no respecter of persons. Thank God he found you and thank God he is still finding. We who are saved know a Man who is the answer to the communities around us, his name is Jesus. Acts 10:34-35 ‘So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’ In the KJV ‘Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.’

I can’t take a heart that’s broken

Make it over again

But I know a man who can

I can’t take a soul that’s sin sick

Wash it white as the snow

But I know a man who can

Some call him Saviour, the Redeemer of all men

I call him Jesus, for he’s my dearest friend

When you feel no one can help you

And your life is out of hand

I know a man who can

I can’t walk upon the water

Calm the dark and raging sea

But I know a man who can

I can’t cause blind eyes to open

Or make the lame to walk again

But I know a man who can

CCLI788682

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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

CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion April 27th

MONDAY 27th

Acts 2:1-13 – Receive

This is one of the pivotal chapters in Scripture, it is a moment of infilling, of impact and of outreach.

The disciples had been obedient to the instruction that Jesus had given them in the previous chapter 1:4, and they waited, and they prayed until the Day of Pentecost arrived ‘and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.’

When we are told here that the ‘Day of Pentecost’ arrived it is referring to one of the feasts of the Children of Israel, which they observed throughout the year. It was also known as the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15-16)

But now it was going to take on a more significant meaning, it was to be the moment in which the promised Holy Spirit would arrive and infill the waiting disciples / believers. Pentecost means ‘fiftieth’ and on this day, the fiftieth day after the resurrection a new Pentecost takes place. It is the pivotal moment when we can say that the Church was born, the moment when Jesus began to build his Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

I think that it is quite clear that Jesus intended and expects his Church to be Pentecostal, Spirit filled and Spirit empowered. Remember his instruction, they were not to leave Jerusalem until they had received power and the power would arrive when the Holy Spirit came upon them. (1:8)

We see the initial effect upon the waiting disciples in 2:3-4 ‘And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were ALL FILLED with the Holy Spirit and begun to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ They were filled and they spoke in other tongues. It is important to realise here, that they weren’t making up gibberish sounds, they weren’t uttering unintelligible sounds, (even though they themselves may not have understood) they were speaking in other known languages which they themselves didn’t know, languages different to their own language. Such is the incredible power of the Holy Spirit. We know this because of what it says in verses 6-7. ‘And at this sound the multitude came together (Because the Feast of Pentecost was taking place, Jerusalem would have been filled with visitors from afar) and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them (those filled with the Holy Spirit) speaking in his own language. (Italics mine) And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own language?’ And the account lists many of the regions and languages. WOW, what an incredible moment in time, what an incredible scene to have witnessed, what a mighty demonstration of the power of God. What a shift in the plan and purpose of God, in a period of 50 days, Jesus had died, had been buried, had risen again, had appeared many times, had returned to heaven and now a movement was born, the Church of Jesus Christ, inaugurated by the coming of the Holy Spirit, infilled with the power of the Holy Spirit and ready to go and infiltrate the kingdom of darkness and to see many delivered from it and brought into the kingdom of light.

They had waited, they had been filled, the power promised had been received, and as a result the disciples were ready to be propelled as witnesses, first into Jerusalem, then into Judea, then into Samaria and then to the end of the earth. Fulfilling the commission given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. The story continues, two thousand years later and this devotion continues, tomorrow.

The whole wide world for Jesus!

This shall our watchword be,

Upon the highest mountain,

Down by the widest sea.

The whole wide world for Jesus!

To Him shall all men bow;

In city or in prairie,

The world for Jesus now.

The whole wide world, the whole wide world!

Proclaim the Gospel tidings thro’ the whole wide world!

Lift up the cross of Jesus, His banner be unfurled,

Till every tongue confess Him thro’ the whole wide world.

The whole wide world for Jesus!

Inspires us with the thought

That every son of Adam

Hath by His love been bought.

The whole wide world for Jesus!

O faint not by the way!

The cross shall surely conquer

In this our glorious day.

The whole wide world for Jesus!

The marching order sound;

Go ye and preach the gospel

Wherever man is found.

The whole wide world for Jesus!

Our banner is unfurled;

We battle now for Jesus,

And faith demands the world.

Catherine Johnson CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion April 23rd

THURSDAY 23rd

Psalm 100

There are some Psalms that perhaps we can recall being used more frequently than others in Sunday morning worship services, and for me, when I hear particular Psalms, my mind immediately remembers individuals who I can recall who used to regularly read them or they take me back to a particular time  – they were the favourites. Psalm 8 immediately reminds me of a lovely lady called Sonia that worshipped in the Church in Wrexham. Psalm 103 reminds me of an elderly man who used to make us smile as youngsters because he always used to say Psalm one ought three instead of one hundred and three.

This Psalm for today, Psalm 100, takes me back to my childhood Church in Madley, a little village in Herefordshire, the same place as Mr one ought three attended. I can remember verse 2 being displayed on the wall as a motto, ‘Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!’

This Psalm like many other Psalms, calls us to ‘come and to worship the Lord’.

Come with a joyful noise – that means that not all noise is joyful!

Come with singing, there is something powerful about song, and I believe that there is something especially powerful about congregational singing.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, we of all people should be a thankful people when we think of what God has done for us.

Enter his courts with praise, his praise should always be on our lips.

It gives to us the core for a worship service. Joyful noise, singing, thanksgiving, praise and blessing. But it also says serve the LORD with gladness, everything we do in the service of the Church should be done unto the Lord with gladness and in verse 3, ‘Know that the LORD, He is God!’ We come together in worship to KNOW the Lord, I believe worship should draw us closer to the Lord, and also expand our understanding of who he is and of what he has done and is doing and yet will do for us. Worship should excite us, but it should also ignite us, because the more we worship in spirit and in truth, the greater should be our awareness of God in our lives and the stronger our desire should be to get to know him more.

Returning to verse three, it also says. ‘It is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.’

When we come to worship, we are coming to bow down before the great Creator. He not only deserves our worship, but he has the right to demand it! He has made us, we are his, this reminds me of 1 Corinthians 6:20 ‘For you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.’

We don’t belong to ourselves; we belong to God we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. There is a personal challenge to each of us here, as to glorifying God, in that we need to be careful that we don’t dishonour God through our actions, in the things which we do and the things we say each day.

Psalm 95:6-7 says, ‘Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.’

Then the final verse (100:5) reminds us ‘For the LORD is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.’ 

This is why we worship, why we praise, why we bring joyful noise / songs, and serve with gladness because the LORD who has made us is a GOOD God, he loves us with enduring love and he is faithful to all generations – as he was faithful 4000 years ago, 3000 years ago, 2000 years ago, 1000 years ago so he still is today and will be in 1000 years, 2000, 3000, 4000 . . . . Lamentations 3:22-23 ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’

Why should we make, serve, come, know, enter and give – for many thousand reasons but in particular because of Gods steadfast love and faithfulness.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning, new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hands hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

Thomas Chisholm CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion April 22nd

Wednesday 22nd

Psalm 42

In this Psalm we have the narrative of an individual who it seems to use a modern phrase to be ‘down in the dumps’ spiritually. He seems to be low in spirit, we see this in verses 5 and verse 11 ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?’

I think that we would all admit that sometime or other we have found ourselves in this place. Maybe more often than we would like to admit, we may have gone through a trying experience, we may have been faced with difficult circumstances, it may have been sickness, unemployment, feelings of rejection, the loss of someone, a marriage problem, the list could almost be endless and during those moments which seem to last for eternity we have gotten into a place of hopelessness and of feeling that it’s never going to end. Depression sets in, both an emotional and a spiritual depression and we find ourselves where the psalmist is, cast down, with an inner turmoil. In verses 9-10, the psalmist even questions the presence of God – have you been there? – maybe you are in that place at the moment – note what he says, ‘I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?” he then gives us a little detail about what has caused his downcast soul, “Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”’

In the middle of his turmoil, depression, whichever label we want to give it, he feels that God has forgotten him. He feels all alone, he feels trapped within himself. Possibly thinking that his whole world was going to collapse in upon him or all around him, but, there is a glimmer of hope, even though his soul is downcast, even though he feels that God has forgotten him, the glimmer of hope is there like a flickering candle burning its last bit of wick, and twice he says ‘Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.’ (verses 5 and 11). His focus was turning from his hopelessness to the certainty of God’s help.

The spark would return, the joy would return, the hopelessness would be replaced with hope again, the turmoil will be replaced with peace again, the depression will lift and his spirit would soar again, because however deep into depression he went, even though he felt he’d been forgotten by God, he still clung onto God, even if from his point of view it may only have been by his finger-tips. For God was there, God hadn’t forgotten him.

Yesterday we considered Psalm 23 and the confidence we have that the Good Shepherd will be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, can I suggest to you today, that the same Good Shepherd will also be with you if you ever have to walk through the valley of depression, and if you are walking through that valley at this moment of time, there is hope, there is a way out, keep clinging onto the Shepherd.

My intention for todays devotion was actually to deal with verses 1-3, but as you can see I’ve not done that, somehow, and I can only believe it was the prompting of the Spirit the devotion has become what it is. I have a very strong conviction that God wants to speak into someone’s life, maybe that someone is you, you are struggling in the pit of depression, understand this, God is there and he wants to lift you up and bring you out. Reach out. Instead of clinging on with the tips of your fingers, place your hand firmly in His hand, it is a strong hand, it is a hand that will not let you go, it is a hand that wants to lead you forward into all that he has planned for you. Take the psalmists words and apply it to your own life, ‘Hope in God; for I shall praise him, my salvation, my God.’

The opening verses (verses 1-4) are the psalmist’s prayer, he wants his desire for God, for the things of God and for the house of God to be re-ignited again. Sometimes it is when we take our focus off God and of who he is that we begin to lose our way. Going through the period of time that we are at present, with restrictions upon us in regard to fellowshipping together, it would be easy to lose our focus, easy to start feeling sorry for ourselves, easy to get into a routine that will be difficult to break when the restrictions are over, may each one of us, be resolute to keep our focus on God, on the things of God and with a determined desire to be found in the house of God when we are able once again to go.

I was going to originally link this Psalm to another Psalm, 63, but I will close todays devotion with the opening verses, ‘O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.’

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to speak on the hands of Jesus and a song that I discovered at the time blessed me, so I will include it here as my hymn for the day. Feeling hopeless and lost? Place your hand in His hand.

Put your hand in the hand of the man

Who stilled the water

Put your hand in the hand of the man

Who calmed the sea

Take a look at yourself

And you can look at others differently

Put your hand in the hand of the man

From Galilee

When Jesus came into this world to bring salvation,

He grew up in a town with a bad reputation

And he walked among the common people who lived in galilee

And he knows all the troubles of a people like a you and a me

Put your hand

Now there’s more to the story that we can ever understand

Jesus was God in the flesh while walking this land

And he came to die and to rise again to take our fears away

So that we can live with peace and joy everyday

Unknown, Adapted Caroll Roberson CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion April 21st

TUESDAY 21st

Psalm 23

I wonder going back to what I suggested on Sunday morning about listing seven of the Psalms, how many put Psalm 23 down? It is possibly one of the most well known and used Psalms and possibly most used portion of Scripture alongside ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’

And yet the reality is that so many who have used it whether at a wedding, funeral etc. do not actually know the Lord, let alone know him as their Shepherd. See it is a nice psalm, it speaks of nice things, but to know it’s benefits we need to know in a personal way the Shepherd it is referring to.

Can we truly say today that we know the Shepherd so that we can say ‘The LORD is my Shepherd?’

What are the benefits of knowing this Shepherd?

To list them:

We will not want

We lie in green pastures

We are led by still waters

Our soul is restored

We are led in the paths of righteousness

When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear evil

The Shepherd is with us

His rod and staff comfort us

There is a table prepared before us in the presence of our enemies

Our head is anointed with oil

Goodness and mercy follow us – all the days of our life

We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Psalm covers our pilgrimage as we walk with the Shepherd through life from our getting to know him as our Saviour, that is, our walk with him in the present, and his being with us as we pass through death and into eternity.

In Johns gospel, Jesus says that he is a Shepherd, he uses another word to describe what kind of Shepherd he is – ‘I am the GOOD Shepherd. (John 10:11) In the epistles he is also described as the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) and as the Great Shepherd. (Hebrews 13:12).

If the LORD is the Shepherd then it also means that we who claim to belong to the Shepherd must be sheep, and not just any sheep but HIS sheep. In Isaiah 53:6 we read ‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ but 2 Peter 2:25 says ‘For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’  In Psalm 100, one of the songs the Children of Israel sang includes the line, ‘We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture’ thank God because the Good Shepherd came to seek and to save the lost we can now also declare that we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. ‘I was lost, but Jesus found me, Found the sheep that went astray, threw His loving arms around me, drew me back into His way.’

We are familiar with the parable of the lost sheep, (Luke 15:1-7) that parable speaks of where we all were, lost, until Jesus came looking for us and found us and saved us. Perhaps there may be someone reading this today and you are still lost, you are still like a sheep that has gone astray, today you can come in repentance and know forgiveness of sin and be brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd. It was after hearing the parable of the Good Shepherd being preached one Sunday evening that I came to give my life to Jesus.

In deciding what to bring from this Psalm I decided upon v4 ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’

There are as we noted in the devotion on Sunday 19th April, many blessings attached to knowing Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This verse, Psalm 23:4 speaks of one of the most comforting blessings that come from knowing the Lord as our Shepherd. To summarize it ‘when we are faced with death be it our own or that of someone who is close to us, we do not need to fear any evil, we do not need to be afraid, and two reasons,

1) Because the Shepherd who hung on the cross for us, the Shepherd who came looking for us, the Shepherd who is walking with us every day will still be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He made a promise that I will never leave you, even unto the end of the age and he is a promise keeper he will never leave us not even in the dark valley of death.

2) Because the Shepherd who is going to walk through that valley with us, has already been through it himself, and the good news is that by going through the valley of death himself, he conquered it, he destroyed its power. And here is some exciting news, in the book of Revelation we read that John the Apostle saw the risen Christ, our Shepherd, and as he looked upon him, it says, ‘he fell as if he was dead,’ but the Shepherd touched him and gave him some brilliant and exciting news; ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive for evermore.’ Now if Jesus had stopped there that itself would be awesome, but he didn’t stop there, he continued with more amazing news that should bring us comfort and a realisation that we do not need to fear death. What did he say? ‘AND I HAVE THE KEYS OF DEATH AND HADES.’ (Revelation 1) What does this mean for us?

It means that the keyholder of death will have those keys with him as we walk through the valley, therefore we need not fear because he also has the power to grant eternal life to all who have believed on his name. I like to picture walking through the valley of the shadow of death and Jesus is walking with me and every time a door appears with death written upon it, he rattles it and says to me, ‘look it’s locked and I’ve got the key’ and when we get to the other end there is a door that says ‘life’ and he opens it and he takes me through it and into his eternal presence. 

When it comes to the valley of the shadow of death it is something we have no choice over, one day we will all have to walk through it, but be encouraged as I have often said we may fear the way that we will die, its natural as we don’t want to suffer or go through pain, but we don’t need to fear death itself, this is why this Psalm is such a comfort to the believer.

 Sadly, many are dying at this time, we often hear that many are having to die alone, and we need to pray that in their final moments that men and women will cry out to God for mercy and salvation.

I have a Shepherd, One I love so well;

how He has blessed me tongue can never tell;

on the Cross He suffered, shed His blood and died,

that I might ever in His love confide.

Following Jesus, ever day by day,

nothing can harm me when He leads the way;

darkness or sunshine, whate’er befall,

Jesus, the Shepherd, is my All in All.

Pastures abundant doth His hand provide,

still waters flowing ever at my side,

goodness and mercy follow on my track,

with such a Shepherd nothing can I lack.

When I would wander from the path astray,

then He will draw me back into the way;

in the darkest valley I need fear no ill,

for He, my Shepherd, will be with me still.

When labour’s ended and the journey done,

then He will lead me safely to my home;

there I shall dwell in rapture sure and sweet,

with all the loved ones gathered round His feet

Leonard Weaver CCLI 788682

Categories
Devotions

Daily Devotion April 19th

Sunday 19th

Psalm 103

Yesterday we looked at a verse from Psalm 91, today and through this week I want to continue in the Psalms. I wonder if you were limited to choosing seven Psalms which ones would you choose? Perhaps that would be a good exercise today, to compile your personal list. I have chosen seven for this week, but I have not particularly chosen what would be my top seven simply because my list would include at least three that we won’t use this week. My list would include Psalm 1, has it’s always been one of my favourites, and Psalm 121 and Psalm 19.

Today I have chosen Psalm 103, verses 1-5. 

These first few verses in this psalm are probably verses that I quote or use more than any other in prayer, especially verse 1, verses 1-5, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’

Just pause for a moment or two and consider the wonder of these words.

‘Forget not all his benefits’ if I were to give a New Testament comparison, it would be Ephesians 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ I have already mentioned about listing what would be your top seven Psalms, here is a bigger challenge, how about beginning to list the many benefits or blessings we have received in Christ.

In Psalm 139:17, David says ‘How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them.’ He then continues in the next verse, ‘IF I could count them, they are more than the sand!’ In an earlier Psalm he says, ‘You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you!’ (Psalm 40:5) If David could say these things before Calvary has happened, how much more so can we who have known the wonder of Calvary’s love and grace. His blessings towards us are like his thoughts toward us, they are more than the sand. 

‘Who forgives all your iniquity’ read what it says later in the same Psalm, verse 12, ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.’  Re-read this and declare it loud and clear, if we have been to the cross in repentance, our sin HAS been removed and we have been justified by his precious blood! The devil can throw every accusation against us that he wants to, but not one accusation will stand as we remain firm in our position in Christ Jesus, because we have been forgiven and we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus himself,  who is standing in God’s presence on our behalf. 1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’

‘Who heals all your diseases’ ‘Oh dear’ this is a tricky one, if he heals all our diseases how come so many of the household of faith are sick and suffering? Well, no it’s not tricky for God does have the power to heal all our diseases – he has healed us from the worse of them all – the disease of sin which had left us spiritually dead and thanks to his death on the cross and the power of his resurrection, by grace we have been saved and we have been made spiritually alive again. (Ephesians 2) But alongside reading Scripture concerning healing we need to remind ourselves that although we have been made alive spiritually or quickened as the KJV says,  we are still living in a fallen world, and we still suffer some of the consequences of the fall, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 4:16 ‘So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.’ But thank God one of the blessing of being in Christ is that one day that which is wasting away, perishing, and decaying will be transformed into a glorious new eternal body. Another Scripture that should help us in this is Romans 8:23-25 ‘And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (See also 1 Corinthians 15:42-49) And although healing can and does take place in the present, the day is coming when all sickness and disease will be done away with – and as a result of what? – Christ’s redemptive work, and so he does heal all our diseases, sometimes it happens in the present but most definitely for every believer it will happen as we enter eternity. As I have said in an earlier devotion, (March 28th) if our healing doesn’t happen today, he gives us his grace to strengthen us in the present and as a sure and certain hope for the future.

‘Who redeems your life from the pit’ In the CSB* the word pit is capitalized to Pit, this then means it is referring to a specific place. It is referring to ‘Sheol’, the place of the dead, or the place where the dead go to. The psalmist is rejoicing that because of his hope and confidence in God, when he dies, he will not go to the place of the spiritually dead, because he has been redeemed from it. So where will he go? Well instead of the Pit those who are spiritually alive will go to Paradise! Remember what the response of Jesus was to the dying thief on the cross? ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’ In other words instead of the PIT and as a result of Christ’s resurrection, we go to where the Saviour is and perhaps better to put it this way, we go into the PRESENCE of our Saviour. And we who are born again by the Spirit of God have been redeemed from the pit, from the place of the spiritually dead. For the unbeliever the Pit is not good news, because the New Testament enlarges further and talks of the unrighteous dead being raised and cast with the devil and his wicked angels into the Lake of Fire which will be a place of eternal punishment,(Revelation 20:7-15) but for us who are believers, our body may be temporarily placed in the ground, but our redeemed spirit / soul will enter into his presence awaiting the glorious resurrection day. (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)

‘Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s’. Because of time I will sum these thought up by using Scripture, just ponder upon the wonder that instead of a golden crown studded with diamond on our heads, we have been crowned with something far more precious and valuable – the steadfast love and mercy of God.

Psalm 5:11-12 ‘But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favour as with a shield.’

Psalm 107:8-9 ‘Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’

Matthew 5:6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.’

Isaiah 40:30-31 ‘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.’

Oh yes, my list which we will look at the rest of this week – Psalm 8, Psalm 23, Psalm 42, Psalm 100, Psalm 123, Psalm 34.

*CSB Christian Standard Bible

Lately I’ve been looking back, along this winding road 

To the old familiar markers of the mercies I have known 

I know it may sound simple but it’s more than a cliche

There’s no better way to tell you, than to say

God’s been good in my life

I feel blessed beyond my wildest dreams when I go to sleep each night

And though I’ve had my share of hard times, I wouldn’t change them if I could

‘Cause through it all, God’s been good

Times replay and I can see that I’ve cried some bitter tears 

But I felt His arms around me, as I faced my greatest fears

You see I’ve had more gains than losses and I’ve known more joy than hurt

As His grace rolled down upon me undeserved

For God has been my Father, my Savior and my Friend

His love was my beginning, and His love will be my end

I could spend forever trying to tell you everything He is

But the best thing I can say is this . . . God’s been good . . .’

Unknown CCLI 788682

Categories
Devotions

Daily Devotion April 18th

SATURDAY 18th

Psalm 91

We return today to the theme I started yesterday of being covered.

It’s a word that gets used a lot today in reference to insurance. We need insurance to cover our car, our homes, our possessions, even our lives! Thank God we who are the redeemed of the Lord have not only cover, we have full cover!

In this psalm which is a favourite of many we see the word ‘cover’ used in verse 4. ‘He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.’ (NIV)

‘Covered with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.’ This paints a beautiful picture in our minds, I am sure we have all at some time seen a hen with a brood of chicks gathered under her feathers, having been brought up on a farm it was a sight I often saw as we had hens and ducks. If ever we would make our way toward a hen with her chicks, the closer we got the more protective she became until eventually she would make sure that all the brood were safely nestled under her wings and it didn’t matter whether she had just 2 or 3 chicks or a brood of ten, the protection was there for them all.

Now, of course we know God is Spirit, but often the Bible refers to God as if he has particular features, such as his hand that is not shortened that it cannot save, his eyes that are roaming the earth, his feet which use the earth has a footstool, these types are given in a way that we as humans can be enabled to understand about who God is. Not what he looks like, but who he is as God in his character and in his providential and saving care for mankind. We know he doesn’t have literal feathers, but it helps us to understand that he is a God who like the hen wants to protect his children.

Scripture is full of other similes that speak of God as a protector. For example, in Proverbs 18:10 we read ‘The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.’ In other word, his name covers us. But in Psalm 61:3 we read ’for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.’ The first says it is the NAME that is a strong tower, the second says ‘YOU’ that is God himself is a strong tower. We can understand in these examples that not only do we call on the name of the Lord for protection, but we can run into the Lord for protection.

We have just moved to the North East from North Wales and scattered along the coast in North Wales, in around 60 miles there is a string of castles including, Flint, Rhuddlan, Conwy, Caernarvon. These were built to be places of fortitude, refuge and protection. The people would fight from within the safety of the castle walls, and if an attack was impending, they would run to the safety of the castle walls.

We have One who is like a hen, waiting for us to run under his feathers for protection, but he is also like a castle, a fortress, and we can run into him for safety. We don’t have to fight our individual battles alone in our own strength, we can fight them from the safety of our Fortress, our Strong Tower. 

Consider some of these Psalms that remind us that Our God is a strong defence and a strong defender:

Psalm 3:3, Psalm 9:9, Psalm 16:1, Psalm 18:1-3, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 31:3, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 62:5-7, Psalm 71:1-3,

If there is anything we have learned over the past few months it is that anything that we try to build our lives upon and around in this world is very unstable, whatever protections we may have put in place they are but temporal, or maybe even worthless, whatever protection or help the government has put in place is temporal, as time moves on, the goal posts may be moved, the safety nets may break or fail, but not our Protector, not our Safety Net, Not our God. He is Constant, Firm and Dependable.

May we continually run under his feathers, may we continually run into his Name, may we continually run into Him.

We won’t fear the battle, we won’t fear the night

We will walk the valley with You by our side

You will go before us, You will lead the way

We have found a refuge, only You can save

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

Even when I stumble, even when I fall

Even when I turn back, still Your love is sure

You will not abandon, You will not forsake

You will cheer me onward with never-ending grace

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

Neither height nor depth can separate us

Hell and death will not defeat us

He who gave His son to free us

Holds me in His love

Neither height nor depth can separate us

Hell and death will not defeat us

He who gave His son to free us

Holds me in His love

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

City Alight CCLI 788682