Daily Devotions 8th Sept 2017

Psalm 30: 5Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

David who wrote most of the psalms has been very poignant when he wrote. He had a lifelong experience of ups and downs, good times as well as bad.

In this psalm he recollected his pains and the feeling of loss. There was great pain in his heart and he had endured suffering for some time but the difference was though he had to go through all these, he never gave up hope in God. In this verse David wrote in his lamentation that surely weeping may stay for the night but breakthrough or rejoicing will come in the morning.

David put his trust in God and though what he saw was not encouraging but his faith in God tells him that God will grant him a breakthrough in granting the answer to his prayers.

These psalms of David reveal that he was just an ordinary man like us but he had an extraordinary faith in God that touched the heart of God and his prayers moved the hand of God.

Through prayers David poured out all his troubles which were quite significant as compared to us. Imagine he was pursued by his father in law the king and for many years this persecution continued and David had to constantly change his hiding place. He ran into the wilderness of Judea and the scriptures tell us that he spend considerable time at En Gedi which is on the side of the Dead Sea. From Jerusalem to En Gedi, there is the vast Negev desert.

The temperature is extremely hot and the terrain is mountainous and there were no proper roads as it is now. David had to flee on foot as his small party of loyal bodyguards escorted him in his escape. They had to hide in the caves of the mountains which we can see today as we ride along the shore line of the Dead Sea today.

The mountain sides are barren and rocky, it was very dangerous to travel on but David and his body guards had to do it and sometimes even when his persecutors were chasing them close behind.

It was during one of these occasions as he rested in one of the caves that David wrote many of the psalms and this is one of them where he lamented of his woes but he proclaims that God will deliver him the next morning.

We too can take comfort in this as when we at times are also faced with great difficulties and problems, I believe that none of us would have experience greater problems and difficulties than David.

Our God is still the same and as He has delivered David, He will also hear our prayers and deliver us.

Acts 8: 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.

We see that there was a group of godly people who were ready to stand up against the persecution that the Jews were inflicting upon the believers. Here was the account when the temple zealots including Saul who was a young man then took Stephen one of the Christian leaders and stoned him to death outside the city walls.

Though the believers were outnumbered they were unafraid as we see that after Stephen had been martyred, the group of spirit filled believers came and took Stephen’s body for burial. It is recorded that they are the godly men who were with Stephen.

They mourned deeply for Stephen as he was a deeply loved leader among the believers. We can imagine the trauma that they had to endured when they see one of their leaders being stoned to a painful death.

When death occurs, it is a natural thing to be sorrowful and the loss of a loved one will result in pain and emotional hurt. This sadness is a natural effect of loss. Even in the animal kingdom we can see this expression of sadness when there is a loss by death.

In the midst of sorrow, God gave strength to Stephen who was the first martyr when God opened the heavens and Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God waiting to receive him. The bodily life is a temporary period that we spend on the earth, it is just a fraction of time in eternity.

When we get to heaven that is where we will be for eternity. Compared to eternity, our time on earth may be like a few short minutes of our lives. Thinking back we can remember when we were young and little children.

Just this week some of my former classmates organized a get together for the first time after 60 years have passed. Everyone who came together are already in the 70s and practically everyone could not recognize each other and had to introduce themselves again.

The bible tells us that our life span is 70 years and a little more if we are lucky. Looking at that all of us from our young school days are already living in our bonus years and we do not know when we will leave this world. Some of our friends have left this world and others in the years ahead would also die off.

But for us who know the Lord, we rejoice in knowing that when we pass on from this temporary earth we will move on to inherit the eternity in the heavenly kingdom with our Lord, Jesus Christ. We must be living with this hope as the early believers that no matter what happen on this earth we shall inherit our eternity in heaven.

Therefore we ought to encourage each other and to build up each other as we go through life on this earth.

Daily Devotions 6th Sept 2017

2 Kings 19: 14

Then Hezekiah went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

This account is the occasion when King Hezekiah had received a threatening letter from his enemy the Assyrians who had threatened to destroy Jerusalem. During this time, Assyria was the strongest nation in the known region of the Middle East.

They had carried out great conquests stretching from India to Europe. The Assyrian armies are well trained, equipped and ferocious warriors. There were many of these who have come from different nations and are conscripted as slave warriors who duty was only to fight in the battles and win or they die in the battles.

To these people they were trained and prepared to battle till death. This was the fierce army that King Hezekiah faced and when he had received the letter of threat, he immediately fell before the Lord and presented his needs to God.

When we are faced with similar situations that will bring fear, anxiety we have precedence here where we can learn from Hezekiah and run straight to God and petition Him to guide our steps and calm our fears.

When Hezekiah cried out God answered him that He is greater and stronger than the Assyrian army. This may seem very difficult to comprehend but the God of Hezekiah is also our God today. What he had done for Hezekiah and other faithful men, God is able to do the same today.

Look at the many Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets whom God had raised in the world today. God hears their prayers and He answers them through the working of many miracles which are well documented through video and verified by high authorities certifying the working of these miracles.

Let us continue to trust in God and turn to Him each day.

Daily Devotions 5th Sept 2017

Rev 21: 5He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new”

In the present world God has created a perfect world that is unique and balanced. Man can only discover the perfect creation of what God has created. There is a perfect balance among the different lifeforms whether it is in the animal kingdom or in the flora kingdom.

Though God has place men in different parts of the world and some are living in the remoteness of undeveloped land whether they are high in the mountains or deep in the jungle, God has provided for their survival. Food is made available through plants and animals.

Having visited the natives in the deep jungle interior, it amazes me to see how these natives could extract food from the jungle trees. They could extract flour from the tree pulps which form their staple food. They know where and how to gather wild plants as vegetables and they also know the properties of trees that can produce poison for their weapons or medicine for their healing.

This is how God has created a perfect world for men. Irrespective of nations or cultures, men living in the coldest artic to the hottest tropics have the wisdom and skills to know what God has given to them. They have managed to survive and grow through thousands of years.

Then there is the perfect balance of nature where the seasons bring us different changes of climate and the variety of God’s creation and blessings. Again there are different countries with mountains and plains which look like paradise on earth. In face we know that earth had been created as a image of what we can expect in heaven.

In fact in recent times, there have been many people who have had the privilege of having passed over to heaven and have seen and experienced what heaven is like and have come back to reveal of its beauty.

Some have even reproduced in great details the splendour of colours, plants, and even buildings that are in heaven. In the four verses preceeding today’s text, Rev 21: 1-4 say “God is going to restore creation into the first perfect state that it was created.  It would be a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  

God’s words say that the New Jerusalem will descend down from heaven and it will come and sit in the atmosphere above the physical Jerusalem in Israel. Heaven will be in our midst and we will enjoy all that God has prepared for us. This is what was shown to John the Apostle as he wrote in Rev 21: 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new”

The time is coming when these prophecies will come to pass, we who are alive today will be the generation that will see this come to pass. 

Daily Devotions 4th Sept 2017

Col 4: 2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

We the people of God are reminded frequently that we are never to be short of prayer and seeking God. He is our strength and our shelter. He gives us the strength to resist sins, to overcome temptations each day and to be able to overcome and triumph in our spiritual walk.

David wrote in 1 Chron 16: 11 Look to the Lord and His strength; and seek his face always. This was written when the Israelites received the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. As David has demonstrated that he would seek God’s face daily he has taught us that in order to please God and to receive His covering and blessing, we must follow the lifestyle of David and other God fearing holy men of the past.

In fact scriptures tell us that all the mighty men of God were men of prayer, they studied the scriptures and hold them fast in their hearts. Day and night they meditated upon the scriptures and in fact their lives were fully saturated by godly thoughts and words.

Scriptures records that all f them were successful in their ministries and were greatly honoured by God. Their names are recorded in scriptures for all posterity to learn from. Their names live on and their legacies also live on.

This is the honour and blessing that God has given to all who seek His face diligently. Today we continue to see present day apostles and prophets who likewise are honoured by God. I have personal friends who are apostles and prophets and I have noticed that these men truly seek God’s face diligently every day and they spend long hours in prayer and meditation. They saturate their minds and spirit with prayer and the scriptures and in turn God has blessed all of them greatly and these mighty men of God are honoured and blessed in their ministries which are bringing glory to God through the miracles that God performs through their ministries.

Daily Devotions 3rd Sept 2017

Mark 12: 44She, out of poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.

This scripture tells us of the complete sacrifice of the poor women, she gave all that she had which was her food money to the Lord. She gave her all, she happily gave and never withheld even a little for herself. That was the level of love and faith that she had in God.

Jesus who knew the sacrifice that the women made declared that her gift was greater than the rest who gave generously out of their abundance.

Though this illustration speaks to us of the financial giving, there is another area of our giving which can be expressed as our worship and obedience to God and this is in the area of our services and commitment to God.

We all serve in one way or another in church or in para-church ministries. If we do not have the money to give, we give of our time, our talents as a form of worship.

I know of a sister who does not have very much money to give as offerings but she volunteered to do ministry work as a fund raiser with a mission organization. What she lacked in terms of finance, she made up in terms of time and effort to help the Christian organization to raise funds for their mission.

What we now know is that it is not just giving of finances that God appreciates, not everyone has the means to give generously, but we can make up on this by giving in kind or in service.

God will still see and honour our sacrifices when we continue to serve Him sacrificially in our talents and abilities in whichever capacity we can fit in the best.

God is looking for cheerful givers, let us be in this group.

Daily Devotions 2nd Sept .2017

Heb 12: 1Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses …let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Christian ministry is like a marathon in life, it is a long race and there are many obstacles along the way. Many have started well but have failed to finish. From the scriptures we read of the many accounts where we have seen many mighty men of God who had to fight the good fight and at the most critical point they are helped and supported by others.

Moses was a clear case when the Israelites went to battle and he stood on top of the mountain giving his spiritual covering over the battle. When his arms were raised the Israelites were winning but when his arms grew tired and was lowered then the Israelites lost.

Eventually Aaron and Hur came to his support and lifted up both his arms throughout the day and the battle was won. We too who are in ministry need our Aaron and Hur, we cannot be a lone ranger.

Many years ago one of my good friends told me that I would need an armour bearer to help me in my ministry. Later on I also learned from another minister from Brisbane that it is very biblical that every man of God must mentor their own spiritual armour bearer who would be their support throughout their ministry.

We are not meant to be solo players, we need others prayer support as well as material and emotional support. If we have not established our armour bearers to come along side us, in order to continue and sustain we would need to find such support around us.