Month: February 2016

Mark 1: 7 “And he (John the Baptist) preached, saying, ‘there comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.”

Dear God,

Thank You God for Your precious word.  Mark 1 is such a rich chapter, in revealing Christ to me – as well as the ministry of John the Baptist.  Though Christ had not sinned, He was baptized by John, thus identifying with all sinners, thereby giving us an example for when we accept Christ and start our converted life with Him.  Those who had witnessed the baptism of Christ received a special blessing, by seeing a dove come down upon Him, as He came out of the water, which signified the Holy Spirit, descending down upon Jesus, verse 10.  John in Mark 1:8 had said that he baptized with water, and then referring to Jesus “but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”.

Mark 1: 11 is a wonderful picture of love, as the Father of Jesus spoke from heaven “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  The onlookers that had heard God’s voice from heaven would never forget this scene, which would have filled them with awe, and maybe fear.  Surely for most, their faith in Jesus must have begun to grow, and they would remember this day well, as the ministry of Jesus unfolded before them.  Sadly however, some went away unimpressed; especially the church leaders, with their preconceived ideas unshaken.

Please, God as I read, grow my belief and faith in You, and keep me from allowing these marvelous workings and acts, from becoming ordinary, or be taken for granted in such a way that I feel no need to draw closer to You?

Then the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, for a testing by Satan.  From this Jesus could not be shielded.  Jesus withstood His test without miraculous intervention from heaven, or using any other defense, other than the mighty strength of the Holy Spirit, and He was victorious over Satan.  His public ministry now had begun, through the Spirit; based on His communication by prayer, with His Father in heaven.

Jesus knew His great need of prayer, and again is our example, in that, even after a long day occupied in many aspects of His ministry, such as teaching, healing the sick and casting out demons, Jesus still got up early to go to a quiet place and pray to His Father, as seen in V 35 “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed.”

Please Lord; enable me to get up at Your time for prayer and meditation each morning, after having slept a sweet sleep, in trust and confidence in your abiding love and protection?

Amen

Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

Dear God,

How wonderful to meet with You every morning and to be forgiven of my sins, and know that the blood of Jesus will cleanse them all away.  The good news is, that the Holy Spirit comes and equips me and fills me with all He knows I need, to overcome temptation and more than I have prayed for.  The spiritual discernment and blessings given, when I ask the Holy Spirit to be my guide, are most powerful and very precious to me.  Especially when my mind has been much engaged, with other matters and it is only Your wisdom and workings that will answer the needs I have at that time.

Today as I have read in Leviticus 21 and 22, I have been impressed with the need for the priests to be perfectly formed, without blemish, as they represented God in the wilderness temple, as well as being ritually cleansed, before doing any tasks within the outer court, and even more within the temple itself.  The entire precinct was holy, because it was related to services to You, but the place in which You dwelt, the Most Holy Place required special preparation and services, and attendance by the high priest, as prescribed in absolute reverence and awe; because the presence of You, Most High God was there.

I now more fully understand, that the individual body of each priest must be perfectly formed, without blemish, as well as their actions being in perfect obedience to Your requests, for they signified what Christ now does in the Heavenly Temple, of which the earthly one was built as a copy.

Only sin which originated from Satan (who hated Jesus) had produced malformation, defeat and sickness, along with self-willed rebellion in the people of earth.  God and His beloved Son are absolutely holy and unblemished by sin, and so any person in a blemished condition, could not represent Jesus in the temple services or come before God.  The animal sacrifices pointed forward, to the sacrifice of the life of Jesus for our sins, and therefore the animals also had to be perfectly formed, without blemish.  Jesus was our perfect sacrifice, for He was perfectly formed of body, and He never sinned; never having rebelled against God, whilst on earth.

Matthew 28 presents a glorious word picture of Jesus, throwing off death and arising to life again and in so doing he had defeated sin and death, the devices of Satan, to make people miserable, as well as to take all on earth down with him, in the day of God’s judgement.

After Jesus had arose from the tomb, He appeared to the two Mary’s and then to the disciples.  He spoke important words for all who have lived since that time, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth”.  His work on earth was now over, and He would return to heaven shortly; not to wash His hands of us, but to take up the new redemptive phase on our behalf in the heavenly temple.

I praise Your holy name, dear Jesus, and in your love, strength and power, I determine to live obediently to Your will.

Amen

Matthew 27:37 “And they put over His head the accusation written against Him: ‘THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”

Dear God,

In the peace and quiet of this Your Sabbath day, I worship and adore You.  Apart from You I would not be, on this beautiful day, and if I did not have You, I would have nothing of true value and not be truly content with anything.  A worse thought than that is that I would not know You who has always been and always will be. You are also in every place at one time and You know everything, before, now and to come.  You are totally righteous and full of goodness, power and knowledge.  It is Your total love and compassion that caused You to allow Your precious Son, to be our sin sacrifice on earth.  This knowledge means I can always truly trust You, with my life and future.

I cannot think what it must have been like for You to experience watching how You Son was treated upon earth, as He bore our sins, upon the cross and died.  As well as knowing that we who would come after Jesus, would not have treated Him any better if we had been alive and in that place, at that time.

Even though the title had been written and affixed to the cross, ‘King of the Jews’, many Jews themselves had never accepted Him as a prophet, or as the Messiah, let alone their leader or King – even though He fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah and others, about Him, and all in those prophecies about how they would ‘play out’.  I note that all of Your prophecies yet to occur are about the events leading up to and the return of Jesus in the skies to collect His true believers and take them home with Him.

How easy it is to have closed minds, and therefore miss out on the full blessings You have planned for me (us).  Lord, please forgive me for this attitude in the past, and be my strength so I can give You my whole heart today and all days.

Amen

 

February 16

Dear God,

Thank You for Your blessings and answers to my prayers that I receive new every day from You my loving God.

The Romans had crucified Jesus because of the persistence and conniving from the national leaders; and from others of His own people on earth; as had been prophesied.  Matthew 27:50 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.”  Then followed a number of supernatural events, which affrighted the centurion and those guarding Jesus, “…feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!”

Were most of the Pharisee’s humbled or convicted, that Jesus truly was the Son of God?  No, is the sad answer and they have had many who followed this path, down through the ages.

Joseph of Arimathea, now came out from being a secret a follower of Jesus; and the body of Jesus was buried in Joseph’s own tomb.The Pharisees added insult upon insult upon Jesus, by going on their holy day, to Pilate and asking for the tomb to be guarded, saying, “…..the deceiver said, ‘after three days I will rise.’  They were afraid that one of disciples of Jesus would come by night and steal his body from the grave and report Jesus was alive.  They had not believed the prophecies about Jesus that would have told them that Jesus would come alive after three days, and no deception would be needed to give that news to the people for they would hear from eye witnesses.

It is frightening the place we can go to and what we will do, when we go Satan’s way and eventually reject Jesus.  I pray that I will cling to You Jesus, and never depart from loving You and I rely on the promises You gave that tell that You will give me strength to cling to You, I only have to humble myself and ask, and today I do just that.

Amen

Exodus 19:5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.”

Dear God,

Thank You that Your love for us is all encompassing, even though as God, You order events in all the universe, it is apparent that we the people of earth are not insignificant to You.  For example, You loved the Children of Israel and could not bear to see the oppression they were enduring and it came time to fulfill the promise to bring them out of slavery in Egypt. So to prepare the way for their release, many miracles were performed, revealing Your mighty power.  These miracles were really performed to bring about the release of the Israelite nation from Egypt, by the pharaoh, but also impressed the surrounding nations of the supremacy of the Israelite God, as well.  Your miraculous interventions, continued from the departure of Moses and the people, on through the sea out of Egypt, and eventually to the Promised Land.
In beautiful imagery, You reminded the Children of Israel, of how “I bore you on eagles’ wings and bought you to Myself.”  Then and now, You desire to have a close relationship, with all who love You.  The Israelite’s were sinful, as we are; all of us can only have a continuing close relationship with You, when obedient to Your wishes, contrite for all our sins and keep Your commandments.

You cannot be in a place where sin is, and You abhor sin.  If I willingly and knowingly hang on to my sin, I could not expect You to be in communication with me.  It has always been, that all I have to do is listen to the Holy Spirit prompting me to repent and confess my sins, and my heart will be cleansed and able to have, Your influence in my heart again.

Father, You know how often I and others look upon You with a mind tainted by sin and totally miscomprehend Your purity, majesty and power.  Forgive me and others for unthinkingly treating You without total reverence.  Your glorious not defiled presence kills any who looks upon You.

It is not a helpful alternative to allow Satan fill us with futile pride in our own abilities and ability to run our life, for all through the Bible are reports of the misery he causes people.  Many of us can recount our own experiences of his ploys and deceptions, which have caused us disquiet and problems.

I understand that from early apostolic times after Christ’s death, Christians have been known as Spiritual Israel. I find in the New Testament that we are no less a special treasure to You, than were the Children of Israel, known as the Chosen People.

When I follow the example of Your righteous people in the Old Testament and New Testament, I enjoy Your blessings also; then in gratitude and need, I humble myself before You in prayer and supplication as they did.  I find I can be close to You, and be Your true representative as the Patriarchs, even if to a lesser degree.

Your love begets love within me, needing to be expressed, and I sincerely thank You that this is so.

Amen

Matthew 26:33 “Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”

Dear God,

It is centring to know I am loved always, through all situations – not only me, but all mankind.  So often we think we know ourselves and our hearts, but often I have faced situations, in my own strength and knowledge, and then have compromised my representation of You.   In the past at other times when I (we) have come needing direction, You have directed myself and others with discernment of issues, that stopped us from proceeding unwisely in an association or venture,  because in the end to do so, would not have been to Your glory and purposes: praise Your holy name.

I have been thinking upon the disciples of Jesus, who each believed they loved Jesus absolutely and would always be true to Him, and yet they failed Jesus, because of the possible danger to themselves, by association.  It appears they did not know the true condition of their hearts.  They also did not see the spiritual danger they were in, because the physical risks loomed large.   It seems they had not taken the time to prepare their hearts through soul searching and prayer.  Even though Jesus had said, “all of you will be made to stumble because of Me tonight.”

Jesus the Son of God knew that He must seek His Father in prayer and be fortified by the Holy Spirit each day to withstand the relentless onslaught upon him, in various guises.  To spend time with You and to pray, was for Jesus a special urgency the night before He was about to face the events leading up to His death, and during His time on the cross, as He died His sacrificial death.  He had taken Peter, John and James with Him for companionship and for them to have the opportunity to pray, at the same time He did.  They were all very tired and the disciples had fallen asleep while praying.

They really needed to be awake and praying, lest temptation overcome them; especially Peter, who later denied His Lord three times.  How like us also, to sleep when we are in spiritual danger.

In Your strength and wisdom, I determine to seek You in prayer of various lengths, at various times, in many situations throughout each day.

Your love and mercy toward us is not only profound, it is amazing, and only possible because You are God.  For any truly repenting person, You freely grant forgiveness, which is just what happened for Peter, and will for me and all others.  This is truly “love so amazing and so divine “in action.

Amen

Luke 22:32 “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Dear God,

I thank You for every gift, blessing, provision and protection.  It is such a reassurance to know that I am cared for by the Almighty God of heaven.  Jesus my Creator knows me better than I know myself, and He wants me saved so much that He died for my sins, even though my sins put Him on the cross.

True love and wisdom abide with You God.  I am so thankful that when I ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, I am filled with love and all the other gifts of the Spirit, needed for successful Christian living; none of which is possible in my human strength and abilities.

Today I ask that You God will be my strength and wisdom, so that I indeed will give You my will, and that I will be kept from all temptation.  I thank You for hearing and answering my prayer, according to the promise which is recorded in scripture; and I believe all Your promises.

The disciple Peter was fervent and enthusiastic about Jesus and His work, and had no doubt that He would always be faithful to his Master.  Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, as was his practice, and as He was going off a little by Himself, said to the disciples (including Peter), “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  Like myself so often, they instead slept and did not pray for themselves, being non-comprehending of the spiritual danger they were in.  But Jesus knew, and He had prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail, under the coming pressure and temptations.

Peter was distraught after he actually did deny Jesus three times, as Jesus had said he would, for this had never been his intention, and a great weakness in his faith had been revealed. The good thing Peter did not forever forsake Jesus, and was amongst the disciples, when Jesus revealed Himself to them after His resurrection from the tomb.  Peter humbled, contrite and needy sought pardon from Jesus, who freely forgave Peter.

After this experience, Peter had learnt a good deal about himself and the wiles of Satan, and was more ready to be a shepherd for the early Christians.  Actually he went on to become a mighty force for Jesus and did strengthen his brethren, or as Jesus said ‘feed my sheep’.

Thank You that our potential in every area is clear to You (when not to ourselves) and that we are never dismissed as worthless, even when we thoroughly mess up.  I look at the case of Peter, and see many parallels in the experience of many of us, in waywardness.  I hope that many of us, also listen to Your ‘still small voice’ and come back to You in contrition, and go on to achieve the potential that You plan for us.

Lord, rescue me from arrogance and presumption, so I do not fail to be true to You, when under pressure and temptation.

Amen

 

Matthew 26:2 “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

Dear God,

Thank You for being my God and caring for me.  I am thankful also for the presence of the Holy Spirit being here this morning, for He is essential in my everyday life and in all I do; for I need His strength and wisdom all the time.  I have found that my life seems to be made of nothingness and futility, unless I ask Him to come and lead me to Jesus, filling me with love for Jesus, as well as for all Jesus created.  It is a marvellous wonder, that Jesus loves us all, though we are undeserving of His love.  Praise His holy name!

Jesus when here on earth, always went about His doings, in the wisdom, love, strength and power, and in obedience to You, His heavenly Father. He is always my example.

In Matthew 26, there is this illustration from the life of Jesus as He was nearing His betrayal by Judas, and was trying to prepare the uncomprehending disciple group about what was ahead for them all.  This was complicated by always having nearby, the future betrayer with the other disciples; a pack of priests bent on His death; numbers of people who had been healed by Him, and others who were interested, but did not understand who He was or His mission and purpose.  Patiently and lovingly Jesus continued with His ministry of healing and teaching, never changing His attitude or actions.  Most probably, if it had been one of us from this sinful earth in a similar situation, we would have become much stressed and maybe impatient under such a heavy work load, along with the people clamour and provocation taking place around Him.

This was our precious Jesus in action, near to His death, in the power of the Spirit!

Do I even now allow Jesus to be in me and for me in the fullness available in my individual life and mind?  Today that is my question to myself.  I want it to be so, and pray again it will be so, and believe You have heard and will answer my prayer, as I allow.

The woman, whom Jesus had helped so much, came to Jesus at Simons feast intent on anointing His feet with very expensive perfume, for she needed to show that she had truly accepted Jesus and knew what He had done for her.   She gave Him absolute love and a transformed life, as well as much of her wealth.  The perfume was very expensive and would have taken much of her store, but that did not matter to her, for it was the best she wanted, to honour her Saviour.

Alternatively, for eventual betrayer Judas, his heart had remained untouched by Jesus, even though he lived close to Him and saw and heard all the acts of love that were part of a day in the life of Jesus.  Jesus did not conform to his idea of what a leader for the Jews should be, and Judas amazingly remained unconverted, clinging instead to his pride and critical spirit, even thinking he was justified in paying himself from the group’s meagre store of cash.

Today I again choose You Jesus, and desire to grow in love and grace, so my heart will not remain untouched by Your love, answers to prayer, my blessings received; as did the heart of Judas.

Amen

 

Matthew 25:40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.”

Dear God,

This is such a serious passage for all Christians, when Jesus tells of dividing the righteous and the unrighteous, at His second coming, found today in Matthew 25:31 – 46.

But also a wonderful uplifting thought; Jesus comes as our King, verse 31, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”  It is then He will divide the sheep (righteous people) on His right hand and the goats (unrighteous) on His left hand, verse 34, “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Jesus will then recount how the righteous cared for His needs, by helping others.  It did not cross the mind of the righteous, when occupied in helping, for e.g., feeding and clothing others, that they did it unto Jesus.

Please, dear God, direct me today, so that I will also love You best, and have a love for all other people, because Your love is in me.  So many times I have had to seek forgiveness and a renewed attitude and heart, for a hard heartedness toward others, that occurs too often.

Amen

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angles with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”

Dear God,

Thank You for the plan of salvation, that provides a way for my sins to be forgiven and for me to be accepted by You, God the Father.  Jesus our Judge and King will call those who have accepted Him and have prepared their hearts, when He makes up His group of saints, to travel back to heaven with Him.  It is my sincere hope that I will repent of my every sin, and then ask to be forgiven and cleansed.  Jesus will then cover me with His imputed righteousness, and I will be seen as having His likeness.

Only when Jesus has my heart, can I be someone like Him and then, I (we) treat all other people as if they were in fact Jesus.  Matthew 25:34 – 36 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’”

Lord, I am thankful that You love me enough to rescue me form eternal damnation, even though I will never personally deserve this. I embrace all You offer, and choose You as My God and Saviour again today.

Amen

 

Matthew 24:12, 13 “Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

Dear God,

I thank You for my life, and for the privilege of being able to live safely in peaceful natural surroundings.  I need Your assistance and pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so I know how You want me to prepare and be sanctified. It is also my prayer that I will accurately know and do Your bidding and service, in the way You have directed me.  I dare not go ahead without the promised wisdom and power for every aspect of living my life, because my mind is always popping up with ideas with enthusiasm.  Many times in the past, I have been guilty of running off after my own ideas, which did not actually represent You.

Thank You, that You are gradually changing me, so that I am more likely now, to seek Your will before I run after my ‘brain wave’ and wear myself out unnecessarily or fail to be productive.

The prophecies tell us, that Your Son, Jesus is coming again soon, even though we know not when.  With that knowledge, I pray that, I and as many other people as possible will be prepared.  It would be tragic if I and many others were found to be unprepared and subsequently rejected as His child, when Jesus comes again.  Especially if I (we) had been thinking all the time I (we) have prepared as the ‘5 wise virgins’ and were found to be not adequately prepared like the ‘5 foolish virgins’ and had also left it too late to make amends.

Because You are God, You want all of us to be saved.  I rejoice that You work upon my heart and mind in love, so that my sins are revealed to me, bringing me to acceptance , then to of my own will,  confess and  surrender myself to You; with forgiveness and healing followed by growth.

I praise Your holy name and give praise, for You are entirely worthy and precious to me.

Amen

1 Corinthians 1: 27 “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the worlds, to put to shame the things which are mighty.”

Dear God,

Praise Your blessed and holy name, I wish to dedicate myself to You again today; even though I have trouble  adequately expressing  my love,  worship and adoration for You.

In the Old Testament tabernacle offerings and services, in the earthly tabernacle or courtyard, You were never persuaded by pomp and ceremony, or how wealthy someone was (even though wealth can be used for telling others of You).  It is the soul of each person that You are interested in, not human prestige or the possessions owned.  It is me unadorned by prestige; giving my whole heart and soul that pleases You; not my offerings alone or instead of my love.

In Leviticus 1-3, I read today of how the Israelites were to be taught how to worship.  The animal sacrifices were not blood and gore for no purpose; they pointed forward to the time when Christ, would sacrifice His life, for the sins of everyone who has ever lived.  Families were to be taught the principles of how to reverence and worship You, as is encouraged in the church of this age, albeit a different way of worship, after Christ.  Animal sacrifices are no longer needed, but reverence and worship of God are still what You expect and deserve.

Lord, do I still have much to learn in this area?  As I go about my life and into church, please teach me Your principles of worship and fill me with true reverence and a consciousness of You in all situations.

In the time of Moses, what the people bought to the tabernacle as their sacrifice was to be from their own harvest or property.  For me, I bring myself, no one else’s life, dedication or sacrifice, can substitute for my heart and worship of You.  The sins we (I) commit are not dealt with, as with the people in the time of Moses.  We are told in 1 Corinthians 1:30, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”  I personally have nothing to glory in, for Jesus has done it all, verse 31 “…….’He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Lord let me not lose sight of the lessons to be learned from the temple sacrifices of old.  Now however we (I) confess (our) my sins knowing that the blood of Jesus alone, atones for them.

But I need not stop there; I go on to offer all of me, a perfect gift to You; even though I am not perfect.  I also desire to allow the Holy Spirit to fill me, so that I am at peace with You.  I thank You in advance for answering my prayer.

Amen