Tag: Pentecostal

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Devotion November 15th

TUESDAY 15th

 

2 Peter 1:4

 

‘. . . by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises’

 

The continuation of what we have been reading and going through in these opening verses lead us to notice that through God and by his power, and through our deepening knowledge of him we are enabled to live in godliness and as a result something of the glory and excellence of Christ is shared with us which further leads to us being granted his precious and very great promises.

 

This automatically dictates that all that God has prepared in the future eternal glory is only prepared for and to be received and shared by those who have obtained as we read in the first verse, ‘a faith of equal standing . . . by the righteousness of our God and saviour Jesus Christ’.

 

This surely means that there must also be something prepared for those who have not come to the position of obtaining the righteousness that comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For, to miss out on God’s precious and very great promises means that something else must take its place and the sad news, the negative side of the positive news is that God has prepared a place for those who have rejected him, and it is a place of eternal separation from God, the same place that has been prepared for the devil and the hosts of darkness, a place that Scripture refers to as the lake of fire. It will be a place of eternal lostness, eternal suffering and eternal torment. We read of it in Revelation 20 verses 11-15. We must not shy away from warning men and woman of the eternal damnation of all who have not come to a real and dynamic faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

But for us who are saved, we rejoice in this that God has precious and great promises for us in this life as we place our trust in him, but there is that which is to do with eternity as well.

 

We know that the Scriptures contain many promises,  and we can perhaps recall many of them, but I want to remind us of the great promises to do with our future state. Firstly, there is the promise that Christ will come again, what a great and wonderful promise. ‘I will come again’, Jesus told his disciples, ‘and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also’ (John 14:3). Hold onto this precious and great promise. And then there is the promise of the resurrection from the grave, relating to those who have died in Christ and the corresponding rapture of those who are alive at that time, ‘Behold! I tell you a mystery’, Paul writes, he continues,  ‘We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet’ (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Again I say, hold on to this precious and great promise and then there are the promises concerning our eternal state, as an example we cut into what John records for us in Revelation 21, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away . . .’ (verses 2-4).

 

Put together these are precious and very great promises, for they give to us a present assurance in our hearts and a hope that is eternal, that because we have placed our faith in Jesus, as we remain in him, we are eternally secure.

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Devotion November 14th

MONDAY 14th

 

2 Peter 1:3-4

 

‘His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.’

 

I have included the two verses again this morning to enable you to look at them again for the context out of which I will continue the devotions today with the phrase, ‘through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence’.

 

Two things to consider, ‘through the knowledge of him’ and ‘who called us to his own glory and excellence’. But before we go into more detail the ESV uses the phrase ‘who called us TO his own glory . . .’ while the NIV uses ‘who called us BY his own glory’. The ESV has a footnote for the word ‘to’ to say, or ‘by’, but in my studying of it I have used the actual ESV translation, not the footnote. The sense changes slightly as BY suggests the means being called, while TO suggests being called to something. Either way we can say we have been called by his own glory and called to his own glory.

 

The divine power which is available, is granted to us through the knowledge of him who called us, that is it is a power that is made available only to those who have come to a knowledge of him who is the Saviour, who brings us to a true, real and dynamic relationship with God. We cannot have the power needed that pertains to life and godliness without first knowing Jesus who was sent from God. We may live good lives before salvation, but no matter how good our lives may seem to have been, it would never lead us to salvation nor to genuine godliness.

 

In our last devotion I mentioned the need to receive divine power through the reading of the Word of God, through the avenue of prayer and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but I repeat what I also touched on in the devotion before that, that these avenues of reception can only happen when we have come to a saving knowledge and a deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ‘all things’ come after we have in our lives the knowledge of him, first as Saviour and secondly as Lord.

 

Then, it is only those who have a genuine knowledge of Jesus who will be called to his own glory and excellence. That is, that not all will come to the place of seeing both the glory of Jesus and his excellence, we can know something of his glory and excellence in our lives now as he fills us with everything pertaining to life and godliness and in our living for him and in his ways, but I think there is something here that speaks also of his eternal glory and excellence. He has called us by his grace to himself, so that we share with him now, but we will share in an even greater way when we get to the place of our eternal dwelling. I am reminded of the Scripture, ‘But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.’ (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

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Devotion January 25th

TUESDAY 25th

Psalm 119:16

ESV (v16) – ‘I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.’

Today’s devotion is a very simple plea, in the previous devotion I mentioned the importance of ‘hiding the Word’ in our hearts. It will only happen if we heed what the verse I have chosen today says. ‘I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.’

I have a certain number of tablets that I need to take every morning and evening owing to Crohn’s disease and guess what, I regularly forget about them, it is only because Elaine reminds me that I do take them every day! 

I wonder how often we ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ to read the Word of God every day? We get so busy with everything else that God’s Word isn’t considered to be as important as everything else that we fill up our day with. Yes, we can catch up on the social media, that is a must, we can catch up on the news, the TV gossip and soaps, we can ensure that everything else is followed to the jot and tittle and yet ‘forget’ or ‘neglect’ God’ Word. 

The psalmist delighted so much in the Word of God that he ensured that he didn’t forget it, in the previous devotion I talked about forgetting it regarding our trying to remember it, today it is all about our forgetting it due to our neglect of reading it.

May we always hold the Word of God as not only valuable in our lives but also as essential, as essential as the air we breathe, for in it are found the words of life, may my devotion today be like Elaine’s reminder to me, ‘Don’t forget your tablets.’ I say, ‘Don’t forget your daily medicine, a daily dose of the written Word of God.’

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Devotion January 24th

MONDAY 24th

Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV) – Section Two – Hebrew – BETH

‘How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.’

I mentioned a few devotions earlier about the young girl who had sought to memorize Psalm119, I wonder how many times we have sought to memorize portions of Scripture? I remember having to learn the section in Luke 10 on the parable of the Good Samaritan, (vv25-37) I did manage it, but would fail miserably if I tried to recite it now, I have made other attempts, I recall a time when I was reading through the Ephesian epistle multiple times with the hope of memorising it, but I failed. But even though I may not be able to recall word for word, something happened in that the Word of God has become hidden or as this psalm says, ‘stored up in my heart’ and time and time again, I have found that while preparing ministry, or devotions, or in conversation, the Word that has been stored in my heart comes to memory and can be used and quoted.

From our verses today we discover that the Word that has been read, meditated upon, or maybe memorised, becomes like a guard in our hearts and lives and helps to govern the way that we live, it helps to stop us from sinning against God, it governs our conscience and triggers spiritual awareness.

This is one of the reasons why our regular reading of the Word of God is important and essential to our Christian growth and maturity, for God speaks to us through it, he reveals his will to us through it and he shows us exactly how he wants us to be as his Children as we live in obedience to him.

Through these devotions around this psalm my prayer is that we will have a greater love for the Word of God, so that as we turn to it, perhaps more frequently to what we have been doing so, that we may find it being stored in our hearts.

Some animals, creatures spend the summer and autumn months storing food so that they can return to it in the winter months to have as a food source, to replenish and give energy, to keep them going till springtime appears again.

I have witnessed time and time again, with older Christians, those who have stored up the Word of God in their hearts, and when the winter of their life has come, perhaps they can no longer read etc. and what has been stored comes back to them, and they can quote it because they have lived by it. The stored Word gives them spiritual energy. May none of us be lacking in our later years because we have failed to store up in our earlier years the life and energy that is to be found in God’s Word.

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Devotion January 20th

THURSDAY 20th

 

Psalm 119:1-8

 

While going through this Psalm, I will only use the ESV as I quote verses.

 

ESV (vv1-8) – Section One – Hebrew – ALEPH

 

‘Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!

 

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

 

I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!’

 

This Psalm commences with the same word as the first Psalm, ‘Blessed’ (1:1) Both Psalms remind us that there is a blessedness linked to the Word of God and our obedience toward it.

 

In the first psalm it is concerning our love and devotion toward the Word rather than a love or devotion toward the things of the world, instead of walking, standing or sitting with those who scorn the things of God, we choose instead to delight in the ways of God and in his Word, we choose to meditate daily upon it and know that as a result we will be blessed, we will be like trees that are planted by streams of water, rooted and well fed.

 

In this the 119th psalm, it has a similar tone in that the ‘blessed’ person is the one who chooses to walk in the law of the LORD, allowing the Word to enable us to walk blamelessly in this world in which we are passing through as strangers and pilgrims on our way to the heavenly city. We choose to keep his testimonies and we choose to seek the LORD God with our whole heart.

 

The author says that God has commanded that his precepts be kept diligently, we cannot to choose to obey one day and then ignore the next, we need to have a consistency in our walk with God and in our love and obedience for his Word.

 

We have discovered that the Word of God is referenced with many different words or phrases which we looked at yesterday, but for today, for each one of us reading this devotion how about we renew our love toward the Word of God and our commitment to its place and priority in our lives as his children. This is one sure way toward being blessed, for this is the promise in the opening verses, ‘Blessed are those who keep his testimonies.’

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Devotion December 29th

WEDNESDAY 29th

Psalm 107

Scriptures in devotion.

I want to continue in this psalm again today because yesterday I highlighted the plight of the sinner, today I want to highlight what God did for them after they cried out to him.

In verse 6 they cried, and it continues in v7 ‘He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.’ and verse 9 ‘For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’ This is the good news of the gospel, as we cry out to the Lord in desperation of soul, he comes, and he puts our feet on a straight path, yes, it may be a narrow path, but it leads to life everlasting, it leads to a heavenly city where we will eternally dwell, and while walking this path God satisfies the longing soul. It was Jesus who said to those listening to him on the mountain side, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied’. Men and women will never know what true satisfaction is until they come and fully surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, maybe you are reading this today and you are seeking to get satisfaction in life, and you are trying anything and everything except Jesus, turn to him today, allow him to come and give you purpose and release the potential that God has planted within you.

In verse 13 they cried and verse 14 continues to say, ‘He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart’ and verse 16 ‘For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.’ Again, it was Jesus who said while reading from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”’ God is able to deliver and set the captives free, Jesus blood can make the foulest clean, he is able to break the chains of addiction, he is able to release the oppressed and possessed, for there is power at work in his redeeming grace, the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who refuse to believe but when an individual responds by faith it releases the power of God not only to save but also to set free. It was Charles Wesley who wrote the words of the wonderful song, Jesus, the Name high over all, the second verse reads:

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,

And sets the prisoner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood avails for me.

His blood avails, it is still as powerful as it was when he shed it at Calvary, it still breaks the bonds and sets the captives free. Free from guilt, free from addiction, free from bondage.

Jesus, the prisoner’s fetter breaks,

And bruises Satan’s head,

Power into strengthless souls he speaks,

And life unto the dead.

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Daily Devotion July 6th

MONDAY 6th

John 20:30-31

NIV  – ‘Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

ESV – ‘Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

At the end of his Gospel, John lets the reader know why he has written it, ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God’ and as a result of believing the reader will have life in his name.

I cannot think of any better or more necessary reason to write a book than to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to bring them to a place of believing in him. I love books, the one thing I am missing most because of our possessions being in storage for such a long time is my books! I cannot wait to get into our house and amongst other things to be able to unpack my books and have access to them again. But of them all whatever the genre of them, the Word of God is the most precious. The world is full of books, there are libraries around the world that contain thousands upon thousands, publishers are publishing them continually on just about any and every subject matter; reference, factual, fiction, instructional, helps, guides etc. Today we can have them in printed or digital form. But of all the books there is one that stands head and shoulders above every other and it is the Word of God, because as we read in Hebrews 4:12 ‘. . . the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’

The Bible is a collection of 66 individual books, and John’s gospel falls within the New Testament and classified as what we would call a gospel account. I personally think that John’s gospel is one of the most significant books contained within the most significant book! And why, because as John himself says it is written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ and in knowing we may have life in his name. The most important thing for any person today is to come to know Jesus and to have life in his name, and what better way to get to know him than by reading the gospel of John.

As we go through the devotions, if anyone is reading them and as yet you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, can I encourage you to read through this gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten you concerning Jesus and your need to know him as Saviour, and for those of us who do know him, may we get to know him better, more intimately, more deeper and in a way that we will be able to talk about him more freely to those who need to know him.

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Daily Devotion July 5th

John 1:1-18

As we embark into a new week, I am going to change slightly the format of the devotions, from tomorrow, I will include the text Scripture in two versions, the New International Version and the English Standard Version which is the one that I most commonly use. If I quote verses within the devotion, they will continue to be from the ESV unless otherwise stated. I will no longer be adding a song at the end, but occasionally I will put some further notes at the end of a devotion.We will commence this week to look at the first chapter of the  Gospel of John, although to begin with we will look at some later chapters as an introduction

Introduction

The Gospel of John was written by the apostle John, who was one of the disciples of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee, and was a fisherman, along with his brother James. (Matthew 4:18-22 ‘While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.  And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.) He also wrote the three epistles under his name 1, 2 & 3 John and the book of Revelation. (Revelation 1:1-2 ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.’)

Although John is a main character during the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, he seems to be the member of an inner circle that had special privileges such as being on the mountain at the time of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17)  but when we look at the book of Acts, John seems to take a less prominent role compared to Peter and Paul. We do read of him, when he along with Peter went up to the temple in Acts 3 which records the healing of the lame man, this narrative continues through into chapter 4. We read of John with Peter again in Acts 8, and the next and final time he is referred to is on the occasion when his brother James was killed by Herod. (Acts 12:2) The other ‘Johns’ referred to in Acts are John the Baptist and John Mark.

The gospel of John is different to the other three gospels, in that they (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are called ‘synoptic’ gospels. This means they give an account of the life and ministry of Jesus with a similar view. John differs in that unlike them he does not concentrate on the miracles, parables, and teachings of Jesus in the same way, but instead concentrates on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is said that in his gospel John covers 90% of unique material.

But thank God that he did concentrate on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is from this gospel that we glean so much about the Lord Jesus , who came as God’s Son, to bring about the whole work of redemption. My prayer is that as we go through this gospel, we may be blessed all over again with the wonder of who Jesus is and in the wonder of our salvation.

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Daily Devotion June 30th

TUESDAY 30th

James 1:1-16 – CROWNS – Part One

In one of our devotions last week (Friday) I mentioned verse 12 of James 1 ‘Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.’

James mentions the ‘crown of life’. In this devotion I want to look at the verses in Scripture that mention crowns in relation to the Christian life.

We have the crown of life

James 1:12 ‘Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.’

Revelation 2:10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.’

We have the crown of righteousness

2 Timothy 4:8 ‘Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.’

We have the crown of glory

1 Peter 5:4 ‘And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.’

We have the incorruptible crown (in the ESV it is an imperishable wreath)

1 Corinthians 9:25 ‘Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.’

1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV) ‘Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.’

There is a warning to hold fast so as not to lose the crown

Revelation 3:11 ‘I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.’

And Paul considered those who were under his pastoral care to be his crown, a crown of rejoicing

Philippians 4:1 ‘Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.’

1 Thessalonians 2:19 ‘For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?’

When we read of these crowns, they are not crowns as we see a king or queen wearing signifying authority, but rather as the ESV translates the word in 1 Corinthians 9:25 as wreaths or laurels that would have been given to competitors who have completed and won a race, or like a trophy presented to someone who has achieved something.

In Malachi we are told about a book of remembrance, Malachi 3:16 ‘Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.’ later in Scripture we are told that a day of judgement is coming for all men (and women) and on that day the books will be opened, Revelation 20:12 ‘And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.’ And in 2 Corinthians 5:10 ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.’

Is one of the books that will be opened the book of remembrance?  I wonder what will be recorded down about each one of us, thankfully some of what has been written about us will be blotted out, everything that happened pre-conversion will be blotted out because it will have been forgiven as we saw in the devotion June 18th (Acts 3:19) but what about post-conversion, well, the Scripture also tells us that if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us of that sin, (1 John 1:9) so every confessed sin will be blotted out, but what about the things we should have done and didn’t do, or the things we have done that we should not have done?  The Scripture says that ‘we will receive what is due according to what we have done . . .’ Let us be clear that if we have kept the faith and run the race we will not lose or forfeit salvation, but we can lose out on our eternal reward! What is written in the book of life determines our eternal destination, (Revelation 20:15) and what is written in the books that will be opened will determine our eternal reward, that is, what crown, crowns or laurels, winners wreaths, reward we will receive. That is why what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 is so important. ‘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.’

Jesus also taught of reward in his parable of the talents, being rewarded according to what we have done with anything that he has entrusted to us in our Christian ministry (Matthew 25)

We will continue this theme tomorrow:

Living for Jesus a life that is true,

Striving to please him in all that I do;

Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,

This is the pathway of blessing for me.

O Jesus, Lord and Saviour, I give myself to thee,

For thou, in thine atonement, didst give thyself for me;

I own no other Master, my heart shall be thy throne,

My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for thee alone.

Living for Jesus who died in my place,

Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;

Such love constrains me to answer his call,

Follow his leading and give him my all.

Living for Jesus wherever I am,

Doing each duty in His holy name,

Willing to suffer affliction and loss,

Deeming each trial a part of my cross.

Living for Jesus through earth’s little while,

My dearest treasure, the light of his smile,

Seeking the lost ones he died to redeem,

Bringing the weary to find rest in him.

T O Chisholm CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion June 19th

FRIDAY 19th

Hebrews 9:11-28

Continued from yesterday. Yesterday we looked at we have been saved, today we continue with We are being saved.

Once we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we are still living in the hostile sinful world, the enemy of our souls would love to drag us back, pull us back into his kingdom of darkness. We are reminded by Peter that the devil is going around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour – (1 Peter 5:8) Peter is writing to believer’s; therefore, he is warning believers. Let us remind ourselves today the devil would love to distract and divert us in our walk of faith, he would love us to deviate and eventually to get us back onto the road that leads to destruction. Peter continues that the believers needed to ‘resist him’. As we have been saved, so we will continue to be being saved as we continue to resist the devil and walk faithfully in our new-found lives as believers or followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God that the Scripture reminds us that as we walk in this hostile world, as we become determined in our hearts to persevere in the struggles of life and in our ongoing relationship with Jesus that he is able to keep us, to prevent us from falling away. Jude 1:24-25 ‘Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.’ In verse 21 Jude has told the believers ‘keep yourselves in the love of God’

I appreciate that on this matter there are two camps, those who believe once saved always saved and those who believe in the possibility of backsliding or falling away. Whatever our position, let us remind ourselves that the Scripture has many references to our need to be watchful, of the need to persevere, and of the need to keep our focus upon Jesus and the finishing line.

We will be saved. Hebrews 9:28 ‘. . . so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.’

One day the race will be over, whether it be through natural death or as a result of the Lords return, and at that moment we who have been saved and who have been kept will be saved throughout eternity, safe as we often say ‘in the arms of Jesus’ or ‘in the presence of Jesus’. Reminding ourselves again of what Jude said, ‘presented blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy’ (Jude 1:24) What a day that is going to be, the day when we finally stand in the presence of Almighty God, the day when we at last will see with our own eyes the Lamb that had been slain, our wonderful and beautiful Saviour, the day when we will gather around the throne with all the redeemed of the Lord and sing out ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’, when we will lift our voices together and sing with those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb from every tribe and language and people and nations, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing’.

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Will you be there?

The same Scripture that reveal to us God’s wonderful plan of redemption also warn us of the dreadful fate of those who have refused to believe, who do not know the wonder of this great redemption story, of those who have rejected it and spurned the incredible and amazing love of God. It says that as we who have believed will be rejoicing in our full and complete salvation, those who have rejected God’s mercy and grace, whose names will not be found in the Lambs book of life will be judged and thrown into the lake of fire. Heaven is real, but sadly so also is Hell. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart but come by faith and believe and accept God’s offer of grace and mercy as he has shown it though the sacrificial death of his Son at Calvary. God loves you, God has died for you, was raised for you and he waits with his arms open wide to welcome you.

One final Scripture, it precedes the verse I commenced this little section with in Hebrews 9:27 ‘And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment . . .’

There is coming a day,

When no heart aches shall come,

No more clouds in the sky,

No more tears to dim the eye,

All is peace forever more,

On that happy golden shore,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

And I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

There’ll be no sorrow there,

No more burdens to bear,

No more sickness, no pain,

No more parting over there;

And forever I will be,

With the One who died for me,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,

When my Jesus I shall see,

And I look upon His face,

The One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand,

And leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Jim Hill CCLI788682