Devotions for 1st Jan 2017

1 Peter 1: 13

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind…..

Today is the first day of 2017 and it is appropriate that we meditate on the word from the Apostle Peter.

There are three key words that we would like to study in this verse. These are ‘wherefore, loins, and mind.’

‘Wherefore’ can be translated to mean consequently and in this context we can say that ‘consequent’ to the start of the New Year it would also mean that we are also positioned in a new era or season in or lives. The past have gone which we cannot turn back whether we have accomplished much for the Lord or we have accomplished little for the Lord there is no rewinding of circumstances and time.

We must start off this day and New Year of 2017 as our new journey with the Lord. Once we have resolved to do so we must plan our path for the whole year. Peter here gave us some instructions toward this journey for everyone.

Secondly ‘girding up the loins’ means that as in the days of old or in some culture today men will wear a long robe that flow up to the ankle. When they need to get into action, like preparing for a fight they would pull up the robe and tuck it under their belt so that they would be able to move fast and freely.

This can also be interpreted to mean that in this new year, we need to gird up to move fast and quick in our ministry for Jesus. There is no more time to be complacent or to drag our feet. The harvest is ripe and the labourers are few, let us pray that we will all rise up to be the labourers for the harvest. There are different duties in the harvest, some will reap, others gather and yet others thresh the harvest and others will store the harvest.

This could be interpreted as some are evangelist; some do the follow up after the evangelism. Yet others will befriend the new converts and be encouragers to the new converts. Finally there are those who store the harvest in the barn which would be the pastoral and caring ministry. Therefore we may not be good preachers but we can do the follow-up, befriending, nurturing etc.

What is our calling and gifting that God has given to us, we need to identify it and sharpen upon it. This is what it means by ‘girding’. The other word is ‘loins’ which refers to the reproductive organ of the person. So the process of girding or preparation is for the purpose of reproduction in the kingdom. Everyone must become a reproducer or being part of the reproductive process in the kingdom.

Where there is no reproduction then there is no growth and soon death will occur. So it is with the Church, when there is no reproduction, soon the Church will wither and die a spiritual death. Many Churches have gone that way because they have lost the reproductive function.

What about the mind that Peter is referring to?

The scriptures have given us some guidelines to this.

Jesus taught that our mind must be fully focused and lead by God at all times.

Matt 12: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment. Our relationship with God involves our heart, our soul or emotions and all of our mind. All here means that our mind must not be divided where we have too many distractions.

In sales and marketing we call it a funnel meaning all efforts are channeled in one channel and focused as one force towards achieving the desired results. Our ministry in the Lord must also be involving the fullness of our mind, there must be absolutely zero distraction towards what we do.  This is what girding our mind means.

Secondly Paul wrote in Roms 12: 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…. This would meant that there must be a setting apart, we must not continue to conform to the mind of the world but our spiritual mind and purpose must be renewed in Christ. We must not continue to think and operate in the way of the world but we are living in another realm which is the realm of the spirit. We need to be more and more Christ like and be the light to the world of darkness that we live in. We are also to be the salt around us as the world has lost the influencing effect of holiness and godliness. We need to bring back the sweetness of God’s love and mercy in the world.

Thirdly, Paul directs us on how to be effective in Roms 12: 16 Be of the same mind one towards another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Paul reminds all that we must not be proud and only look up to the rich and powerful but Jesus had come for all men, including the poor and destitute. The kingdom of God is opened to all men irrespective of nationalities, social status, power or education. The Kingdom of heaven is unlike the world. The poor and destitute may occupy higher places of honour and influence that the rich and powerful of the earth. The Kingdom of heaven is bot about what we have but it is about what we are.

Fourthly Paul wrote in 1 Cor 2: 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Just as the apostle Pete had instructed that we must gird up our mind, Paul we can only do this by purposefully developing our mind to be like the mind of Christ. Our thoughts and desires must be for heavenly values. Our plans and purposes must also be for heavenly achievements. Whatever that Jesus desires, that should also be our desires.

Fifthly Paul tells us what we must and need to do in order that we gird our mind. He wrote in Ephesian 4: 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Our mind has a spirit which is alive and powerful. The mind of Christ is for all men to live righteous and holy lives. Jesus has given us a spirit of sound mind. The devil wants to rob us of this sound mind and therefore our mind is the first battle ground of the devil.

He will attack our minds and sow seeds of accusation, lies, doubts, fear, unbelief, hatred, anger, unforgiveness, evil and filthy thoughts. The devil does not respect any man. Job was tested, Lot was tested, King David was tested, Peter was tested, Paul was tested and today we see that the devil also attack the minds of many pastors and leaders in the Churches. That is his most powerful weapon to destroy the Churches and the Christians.

The only weapon that we can have against the devil is the Word of God. Paul said in Eph 5: 26 …clean our mind ‘with the washing of water by the word.’

The blood of Jesus can only wash away our sins but cannot wash our minds of evil thoughts. Only the scriptures, the Word of God’ can wash our mind. As we read and meditate upon the word of God, it will be like water that washes away all the filthy and ungodly thoughts in our mind.

Therefore let us purpose that in the New Year of 2017, let us deliberate on the Word of God, gird up the productive organs of our mind and live our lives to fulfill God’s plan and purpose in us.

Devotions for 31.12.2016

Leaders Section

1 Peter 2:21

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

Today is New Year Eve and the world is celebrating the closing of the year and the dawn of a New Year at midnight. There will be celebrations going on around the earth as midnight approaches in city after city around the globe. Many will have extravagant fireworks display, national TV stations will have variety shows with the celebrities ushering in the New Year.

Yet others will be celebrating with grand parties with pomp and glitter well into the wee hours of the night. Much efforts and money will be poured in to celebrate this annual event of passing of an old year to a new.

The question that lingers in the minds of many would be what would the New Year bring to the world? Would there be significant events that will happen like a major war that may threaten the peace of the world? Would the political stability of the world be challenged even as we see terrorism on the rise globally?

What about the financial situation in the world, would there be a collapse that would be worldwide as widely propagated? We would not be able to exactly know. However one thing we know is that we would be one year closer to the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ. This means that world events will definitely become more and more challenging as Jesus had said that these are the beginning of sorrows and they are like birth pangs in a woman. These would increase and become more and more frequent and severe.

Knowing this, now is the time that we need to hold fast to our salvation and our calling. We must build up our faith and be strengthened to meet the challenges ahead in the New Year.

The apostle Peter reminds us today ‘To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.’ As servant leaders we must first strengthen ourselves and then in turn strengthen our flock. Let us plan and pray that the Church would be fully equipped to meet all the challenges in the New Year.

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2 Cor 6:2

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.

Jesus came to fulfil the divine plan of Salvation. The world needs this irrespective of race or creed. Each day there are hundreds of souls that are falling into the pits of hell and the call to evangelize and save souls is clear.

A moment ago, I received an email from a friend in South Africa informing me that next year 2017 she is going to India to become a full time missionary. She has a career and teenage children but she knows the call of God is loud and clear and she is prepared to answer the call and make the sacrifice of giving up worldly security and comfort.

Paul also reminds us that we in this present age and time we are in the perfect timing of the Lord. Paul says; I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.

The truth is every day is the time of salvation, we must not forget this but to be urgent in responding to this call of evangelism. There are many souls to be saved and in the Church there are also many souls that have backslidden but need to return to God. We do see many who think that they are saved but in truth have backslidden and have lost their salvation.

We need to remind our brethren that once saved is not always saved. As Paul said in Phip 2: 21 Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Devotions for 30.12.2016

Leaders Section

1 Tim 1: 17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen

Paul is reminding his spiritual son and disciple that being a leader in Christian ministry, we must be continually focused upon Jesus. This means every minute of our day and ministry must be dedicated entirely to the glorifying of His name. Nothing should be directed towards us, all glory and attention must be directed towards Jesus.

In all things and achievements we must give glory to God and to Jesus. Just as Paul summarizes in today’s scripture, everything must be attributed to King Jesus who is immortal, invisible, the only God, He must be given all honor and glory. This must not be shared with others whether spirits or man.

The danger for not doing so would be that we may take the glory for ourselves or for the Church. When this happens, it would be self-glorifying or we may turn the church into an idol. We would begin to take pride in the Church rather than in Christ.

Leaders must never lose their focus on Jesus and they must consciously focus on pleasing Jesus and giving Him all glory and honor. Just as the early apostles and believers did, they were full conscious of who Jesus is and they gave all glory and honor to Him. This has not changed because this is the true doctrine of the trinity.

Jesus is equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit; He was both God and man when He was on earth. Now He is full God after having ascended back to heaven and is seated at the right hand of Father God where He intercedes for us day and night. Let us remember to worship Him as He is worthy being a member of the triune God.

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Matt 14: 23

..Jesus went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

Jesus demonstrated the close relationship He had with the Father God, though He himself is God but yet He continued to show that He too needed to have a close relationship with the Father. This is the natural relationship that any child would have with His Father.

Looking at the family needs we see that every child look towards a Father figure in the lives, they need to have the love of the Father showing them the love and care. This is true from the period of boyhood to even adult hood. I have seen how the children would develop a close bond with the father and even till the children in turn have become fathers, they still look toward the loving care of their father.

Now Jesus knew His Father well when He was in heaven and when His Father asked Him to come down for the mission of saving all sinners, Jesus was an obedient Son, He obeyed the request of the Father, laying aside His deity for a short while and became a man of flesh with all the weaknesses of man. He did not come with His godly abilities but relied on the empowering of the Holy Spirit so that He could set the example and open the way for us to follow.

Now we can follow His footsteps while He was a man, what He had accomplished through the Father and trough the Holy Spirit, we too can follow and do the same. However, we need to be like Jesus, coming before the Father daily, seeking His holiness and His anointing and strength. Only when we have done that and receive a fresh anointing each day can we go forth to do the work of the kingdom.

As Jesus showed the need to come to the Father daily, we must also develop this relationship with Father and ask of the anointing and empowering from the Father.

Devotions for 29.12 .2016

Leaders Section

Eph 5: 15-16

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

As leaders we need to be wise in everything that we deal with including the use of resources and time. We often forget that time is a resource and must be used effectively and productively. There is an English proverb which says, ‘Time and tide waits for no man’.

This is very true; every minute of our lives is precious. Once the minute is passed we cannot go backwards to undo whatever we had done. Only God has this ability to reverse or stop time. When a mistake has been committed, there is no possibility to go back to prevent it. The only thing is to be more careful in the future and to make every effort to avoid repeating the mistake.

Paul in today’s text reminds us to do just this that we must make the most of every opportunity that comes our way. Whatever that we have and whatever we plan to do, let us do it well for the world is unkind and there is much evil around.

If we lack wisdom and understand to do what we need to do, let us pray and ask God to help us make the best of everyday as we make decisions and choices so that all that we do will be glorifying to God. Ask God to equip us to choose wisely so that we can serve Him well.

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Gal 4:4

When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son.

God is the author of all time, He pre-existed even before there was time. He is the infinite God who pre-existed before time was created which was when God created the sun and the moon. It was only after this that time came into existence.

Before this for eons, God had pre-existed and He is beyond the measure of time and space. God cannot be measured as how many thousand years old for He pre-existed even before anything else. He also cannot be measured in terms of dimension as he is beyond the whole Universe which He created.

Even before the Universe was created, God already had pre-planned for His Son to come and die for the redemption of the sin of all men. He was patient and gave men every chance and opportunity to repent and return back to Him. Finally He knew that man on his own strength and effort would never be able to come back to God totally.

Therefore when the time was right He send His Son Jesus to come to the earth to complete His plan of Salvation which required that His Son bore all our sins and shed His blood to wash away all our sins. God had revealed to Paul that it was a set time by God that it was time for Jesus Christ to come upon the earth. He was not to come earlier or later but at the precise time that God had set.

King Solomon also knew that there is a time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3: 2 A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. All things are planned by God and are in His hands. Nothing that has happened or going to happen is without God’s knowledge, He had ordained all things even from before the foundation of the earth.

Devotions for 28.12.2016

Leaders Section

Eph 5: 15-16

Be very careful, then, how you live--- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

As we are in the last closing days of the year, we are reminded to be alert and wise because the days we are facing are evil. Just on the eve of Christmas and Hanukkah a group of nations in the UN conspired to pass a resolution to try and force Israel to give up the territories that they have rightfully won during the six days war.

This was conceived and supported by the anti-Israel US President who gave his blessings to the other nations to plot against Israel. This anti-Israel President has once again shown his dark side in purposefully planning to destroy the land of Israel and therefore paving the way to divide Israel and also to cause the wrath of God to fall upon those nations that have ganged together to pass the resolution.

The original charter of the UN was to promote peace in the world but now this body has been used for evil purposes like trying to destroy the nation of Israel and to rise up against God and His people. This is but one example of evil days.

Other examples are the corrupt governments in nations that are stealing huge sums of money from their country’s resources. We read of the evil deeds of the governments that have caused great hardship to the people and now the treasury is bankrupt, they have now passed a new law to even tax the Churches because they need all kinds of taxes to raise money to meet the budget.

This is another evil act against God and His people. Christian leaders today must be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. They need to recognize the evil around them and to be prudent in their dealings.

Let us continue to pray and seek God’s wisdom and guidance as we lead.

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Psalm 106:1

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever

The psalmist praised God for His everlasting love though this was written many hundred years before God poured out His love through the sending of His Son to die for all our sins. When Jesus resurrected after He had completed His mission on earth, the love of God was not removed though Jesus is now sitting at the right side of God, He is still continuing His ministry of intercession before the Father for all of us.

God’s love for His children is immeasurable, though He may be angry at the great sin of His people and punishes them for a while nevertheless He will bring them back to His love.

The nation of Israel is still the apple of the eye of God. Israel is His favourite and also the first born, God has made a covenant with Abraham that He will bless His descendants forever and He will give them The Promised Land and all the blessings that He had made with Abraham.

Today we are seeing all these promises becoming fulfilled one by one

This is truly a manifestation of the love of God that endures forever as proclaimed by the psalmist. In fact throughout the bible, prophets and spiritual leaders have proclaimed the love of God because they have received this revelation and they have also experienced it in their own lives.

We too can reflect and count the blessings we have been receiving form God because of His love, let us praise God that Hs love truly endures forever in us.

Devotions for 27.12.2016

Leaders Section

Titus 3: 1-2

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

Leaders are reminded that they are to submit to the will of God in their lives and to live as true believers in Jesus Christ bearing the characteristics of Jesus. When we are totally walking in the steps of Jesus we will then be able to receive the blessing of eternal life with Him.

In turn our godly lifestyle will be seen by others and the way we lead and deal with the people would also be a blessing for others. As we follow Jesus Christ, then our followers would then be able to follow us. This is the way that Jesus had instructed us to live and we will then be able to leave behind a godly legacy after we leave the Church.

To be able to live like Jesus, we need to pray and ask Him to teach us true humility in our lives that we would be doers of the word and not just preaching the word. What we teach and preached must be accompanied by our commitment to the teaching that we bring. We need to be proof producers of the gospel that we preach.

Therefore every leader must first examine their lives so that they will be a good role model for the Church to follow. The apostles all walked the talk, they lived the way they taught and preach. They were doers of the word and not preachers only.

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2 Peter 1: 16

We did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

The apostle Peter reminds us that as believers of Jesus Christ our testimony to our lives must be that in whatever that we speak; it must be plain and be the truth. The people in the world like to boast and yarn like the tales of fishermen. They also express themselves by stretching out their arms when they narrate the size of the fish that they missed. This is called the fishermen’s yarn or a white lie.

In Christianity, there must be no lies or exaggeration; there must be complete humility and truth in what we speak. Zechariah 8: 16 These are the things that ye shall do, Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gate. Another reminder from Peter is that when we preach the gospel we must not exaggerate or promise something that is not for us to deliver.

For example, there are some who promised all kinds of blessings to the non-believers when they believe in Jesus. For example I have come across some people who promised the non-believers in great financial distress that Jesus will prosper them when they believe in Him. Jesus did not promise this in the Gospel, therefore no one should also promise this as when the promise does not come to pass, and then the name of Jesus would be tarnished because of our wrong teaching.

Therefore let us speak only the truth in all occasions, we must never cheat or lie to win non-believers. Only the Satanic religion does this to convert people into their faith. 

Devotions for 26.12.2016

Leaders Section

1 John 2: 5-6

But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

Prophetic events are moving fast daily, events in the world are unfolding and it is for every Christians to see and understand the signs of the end. We are in these last days where God had revealed that even as evil increase in the world, there will be a corresponding increase in the manifestation of the power of God.

This is the word that God had spoken through the years and even in recent times that very soon we the present believers are going to be empowered with the power of the Holy Spirit to do the world of the Kingdom.  We will be part of what Jesus had prophesied in John 14: 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

This has never happened before that we the believers would be able to do greater works than Jesus but this is coming soon that the prophecy of Jesus himself would be fulfilled in the coming days. We will be the people who would be doing these works which are even greater than the works that Jesus did while He was on earth. This is because there will be a great End Times harvest which must be brought in for Jesus Christ.

And to do that God is going to equip us for it, it will not be what we can do but what the Holy Spirit can do within us. It would be what the prophet Zechariah said in Zech 4:6 …not by might not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

Yes the Holy Spirit will come once again and pour out upon the believers to empower them so that this prophecy will be fulfilled in these Last Days. Let’s position ourselves to receive it from the Holy Spirit.

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Galatian 4:4

When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son.

God is Omniscience; He knows all things from the beginning, long before it will ever happen. God knows every event, every individual even thousands of years before hand; this is because He is the all-knowing God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the author of all things and everything is created by Him.

God knows the where, when, how and why of whatever that would take place. This is why He knows the very details of everything that would ever happen. He knows the times and the season and He knows the sequence of events.

Now Paul was a special instrument of Jesus Christ, it was to him that Jesus revealed most of the truths of the Doctrines of the Gospel. He was taught and shown by Jesus what the revelation would be and the interpretation of these. Paul wrote all that he had heard from Jesus and put them in writing to the Churches as clear instructions for our teaching.

Today we are reminded again that the coming of Jesus our Saviour was also pre-planned and had a perfect time for His coming. This was prophesied by prophets and angels and here Paul reminds us that it was according to God’s time table that Jesus Christ was sent. It was not earlier or later but at the perfect time of God. We now must hold on to this revelation from the scriptures, we must not look to any false deception about Christmas which the world is teaching. The whole advent of Christmas is about the birth of the Messiah.

This is the whole truth and nothing else. Let us hold firm to it and not be deceive in all kinds of myths and deception that is going around. It is not about Santa and snowman; it is not about jungle bells. All these are lies and deception.

The truth is God sent His Son to die for the sins of all sinners. Period, this is final and cannot be negotiable. Let us not adulterate and negate the truth of the Gospel.

Devotions for 25.12.2016

Leaders Section

John14: 27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

As we celebrate Christmas today, this is a time to reflect on Jesus who is also called the Prince of Peace which he displayed throughout His life. Peace is an attractive quality in a leader and people will support a leader who exhibits such qualities.

From Jesus we can see that Jesus demonstrated peace when everything around him was in chaos. His enemies were screaming for His blood, they whipped and tore his flesh from His body. Throughout the turmoil He remained in peace with the persecutors. He did not retaliate but was meek in accepting all the insults, punishment and trauma.

His followers were traumatized and went into hiding; they have lost their peace and were actually trembling in great fear. They were afraid for their lives as they see their leader dying on the cross. Throughout the whole process of the trial, persecution and crucifixion Jesus had His peace. He did not lose his temper but instead kept His peace till the end when He called to God to forgive the people for they did not know what they are doing.

Jesus is the Prince of peace and He said my peace I give to you. This peace is different from the peace of the world; it is the peace that surpasses all understanding of men. This peace is able to sustain us even when the whole world seems to collapse around us. We see this peace at work in the lives of the believer in the Middle East where the IS terrorists take the Christian captives and execute them by beheading. We can see that all of them had the peace of God and they too did not struggle nor did they cry as they went to their death. All of them knew that they were just passing on from this world to be with Jesus. We too must seek for this peace of Jesus in or lives.

Jesus came at the first Christmas to give us salvation and the peace of God.

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Luke 2: 10

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

The proclamation of JOY was brought by the angels on a cold night in the Judean desert over two thousand years ago. The angels declared to the shepherds in the open fields that on that night God had released great Joy to the World as the Lord has come. God had send the saviour of the world into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world.

The good news is that for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Saviour, He will grant them eternal life. This was the promise given to all men in the world. This is a free gift from God as the high price that was demanded was paid by God through His Son’s shed blood and His life on Calvary.

There was no other sacrifice that God would want to receive except that He provided for the perfect sacrifice, a pure and sinless man, Jesus, to die for the remission of the sin of the whole world.

This is what Christmas is all about, when Churches and Christian celebrate Christmas; they must remember the true mission of Jesus Christ. They must not turn to the deception that is in the world today. The deception from Satan is he has blinded the eyes of the world to Christ and he has promoted himself as Santa so that all the people, adults, children, organizations, and even Churches are deceived into promoting and celebrating Santa and his snow sledge.

They have also been deceived into believing that Christmas is about snow man, yule log and snow. All these have nothing to do with the original salvation plan of God. The Churches must understand the deception of Satan and to stop following what the world do. Let us be the Light to the people of the world who are still living in darkness  and under deception from Satan.

Devotions for 24.12.2016

Romans 3: 23-24

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace though the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Paul is expounding on the doctrine of sin and explains that in God’s sight all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Until the time of Jesus first advent, the world had been godless and sinning in every way. Evil and wickedness abound everywhere and the power of witchcraft was at full bloom.

Everywhere men are controlled by their lust of power, money and the pleasures of the flesh. Looking at the period just before the coming of Christ, there was much evil, bloodshed and lawlessness. Men and women were made slaves and sold as merchandises. There was no respect for the slaves and they were treated just like animals, they lived and died at the whims of their masters.

The poor slaves were thrown into the arena to be killed and eaten by wild animals and the people treated this as entertainment. The gorier and more blood were demanded by the crowd and the rich and powerful gladly gave it to them. The unfortunate slaves were made to suffer and pay the ultimate price of death just for the lust of the people.

God said all these people are condemned to eternal judgement but God being compassionate and kind send Jesus Christ His Son to come and bring the Gospel of Salvation so that all sinners might be saved. This act of love is still in effect as we read on a daily basis that Jesus Christ is still appearing to the terrorists and thousands of these are turning to Jesus.

We are at Christmas Eve today and this is a good time to reflect upon the gift from God for His Son Jesus two thousand years ago. He came to redeem us all from sin through His sacrificial death on the cross.  We must celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and not follow the deceptive way and practices of the world of snowman, reindeer and Santa.

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Isaiah 9:2

On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Isaiah the prophet prophesied that in the land of evil and sin where all the people lived in darkness and have no fear of God, nevertheless God had not forsaken the people. Though He had been patient and merciful God did not want all men to be eternally condemned to the pits of Hell.

Isaiah was chosen to proclaim the coming of the Messiah some six to seven hundred years before Jesus came. God gave him the revelation and the prophetic word in detail for the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah referred to this event as the coming of a light into the deep darkness of the world.

The world had turned their backs to God and even the religious leaders of the synagogues and temples were living in sin and were abusing the common people. They were so despised by Jesus that He called them thieves and vipers or poisonous snakes.  

This is what God saw from heaven, a very dark world living in deep darkness and under the bondage of the devil. The people were slaves to witchcraft, idol worship and tortured. Jesus came from heaven to earth to set the people free. This was the reason He came and nothing else. Let us remember this and teach it to our children and grandchildren.

Let us not teach them a lie about Santa and the elves and the reindeer and snowman. All these are Satanic and have nothing to do with Jesus. Do not participate in this abomination and do not propagate it in the church.

Devotions for 23.12.2016

Leaders Section

Esther 4: 12—14

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Leaders are all vulnerable and can fall if they do not hear the truth from truth-tellers. In a country that we are familiar with, the country’s leader is surrounded by cronies who are all his lackeys. Internationally he is already branded as the most corrupted national leader but because he is supported by his equally corrupted supporters, all the advice he is hearing and getting is that he is a strong and good leader.

Sad to say, because of his corrupt leadership he has brought the nation to near bankruptcy. The economy is weakened and national debts have skyrocketed to unmanageable levels. The people are suffering from job loss, businesses are failing, the currency has dropped so much that the cost of living has gone so high that it is causing great hardship to the people.

Yesterday I read a news item that a man was caught in the supermarket for stealing food to feed his family. This is only the peak of the iceberg; we can anticipate seeing even great problems in the days ahead.

The trouble with this leader is he does not listen to truth tellers, he does not take sound advice and he continues with his evil and corrupt ways and turn away from the despair of the people.

In today’s scriptures we see that Mordecai was a man of integrity and courage, he was prepared to stand up and speak the truth. Church leaders must surround themselves with such people like Mordecai and not like the example of the national leader.

Only the truth-tellers will help us to lead with integrity and honesty. God desires holy and righteous men to be in Church leadership.

Public Section

Psalm 103: 2

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

We are in the season of Christmas and worldwide there are events that are taking place which promotes the season of Christmas. The world is focusing on giving; perhaps they think that it represents the love of God who gave His One and only begotten Son to come and save the world.

This is the love of God which is so incomprehensible that we cannot measure the depth of His love for us sinners. The coming of Jesus and His blood shed on the cross that symbolically washed away our sins and through His death defeated the eternal death that was the price for sin. Jesus defeated the devil and he defeated eternal death when he resurrected from the dead.

Because of this victory of Jesus, now we too will have eternal life. This is the greatest of all benefits from God and the psalmist tells us that we must praise the Lord with all our soul and not forget all His benefits.

At Christmas this is the greatest Christmas gift for us, let us give thanks to God for this precious gift.