Do you patiently wait for God’s perfect timing?
23 Feb 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Numbers 8
Numbers 9
Numbers 10
Mark 5:1-20
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope (Psalm 130:5).
Do you patiently wait for God’s perfect timing?
The Lord clearly leads His people. Moses writes about God’s presence above the tabernacle, “Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey” (Numbers 9:22).
By nature, we are impatient. The Bible is replete with examples of those who didn’t wait upon God and paid a hefty price. For instance, King Saul didn’t wait upon God’s set timing by Samuel and took on a priestly role, which cost him the kingdom (1 Samuel 13:1-14). David’s following words should be heeded: “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD" (Psalm 27:14).
Employment Point: Wait upon God’s leading in all matters.
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Reflections
““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 5:3 NIV
- Be a spiritual beggar. Beatitudes means blessedness. This is the map to divine joy and perfect happiness
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew 5:20 NIV
- was just listening to Ps Les Wheeldon talk about the three types of people. The Pharisees are the religiously righteous people. The other two were the unrighteous and the self-righteous ones.
- Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly that the ones who received salvation are those that are deemed unrighteous. For they know they have sinned, they recognised that they are broken and imperfect people. They know they need God. The others, not quite so.
- Pride is a really big enemy of us. We need to come out of it to realise that it won’t bring us anywhere. Whoever says that they already know it all, doesn’t know better.
The song “Everlasting God” just plays in my ears because of the lyrics.. which sings “strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord…”
Think of it like an arrow that was drawn back to take aim, to be on standby, to garner the latent force to an extent that when it is released, will go for the kill. The season of waiting is a season of preparation and also learning to wait for the opportune time to move. We want to only move in God’s timing. Not our time.
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The Determination to Serve
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
February 23
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. — Matthew 20:28
Paul’s idea of service is the same as our Lord’s. Jesus said, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul echoed him: “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).
We have the idea that Jesus’s ministers are called to be different kinds of beings, that they should be higher and holier than other people. Jesus said his ministers should be other people’s doormats: spiritual leaders, not superiors. When Paul wrote, “We commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses” (6:4), he was describing the lengths he would go to as Christ’s servant. He wanted to spend himself to the last penny; he didn’t care if people stepped all over him.
Paul didn’t draw his motivation for serving from a love for humanity. The well he drew from was his love for Jesus Christ. If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we will soon be crushed and brokenhearted—we may often meet with more ingratitude from humanity than we might from a dog! But if our motive is to love God, no amount of ingratitude will keep us from serving.
Paul’s experience of how Jesus Christ had dealt with him is the secret of his determination to serve others: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy” (1 Timothy 1:13). Paul realized that others could never treat him as badly as he’d treated Jesus. When we too come to this realization—when we see that Jesus Christ has served us despite our selfishness and cruelty and sin—nothing we meet with from others can shake our determination to serve them in his name.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.
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Reflections
To come to serve and not to be served is a really humbling thing to do. It takes more than stepping out of our comfort zones. It is all about having that servant heart, to do the things that usual people shy away from because it’s too lowly, demeaning, pay too low, something people don’t feel like doing.
I think we ought to remember that Jesus Himself said that He came to serve. He lowered himself to the point of the lowliest or servants work to wash His disciples feet. We may not appreciate what this means on our society but maybe we can appreciate if we were to imagine ourselves to be cleaners of our estate. He doesn’t mind doing the dirty work but what about us? Are we afraid of getting our hands dirty? Do we have the mentality that we are above other people? I think by His teachings, He is telling us we ought not to have such mentality as it is not only unhealthy, it gives rise to pride. Like we Lord over others.
We are taught to serve Him. And having that servant heart also means that we serve all and that service comes from the point of loving God and also loving men.
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Lent devotion Day 6/53
taken from YouVersion, Lent for Everyone
Lent for Everyone is a devotional created and written by N.T. (Tom) Wright. For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel of Matthew, plus a reflection by Wright. These readings have grown out of a project encouraging Lent reading in Northern England. This is the second in a three-volume series based on the Revised Common Lectionary of the Church of England.
Today’s reading:
Matthew 5
WEEK 1: MONDAY
The worst mistake we can make about this famous and stunning passage is to see it as a list of rules (you've got to try hard to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, and so on). It isn't. It's a royal announcement that God is turning the world upside down — or, rather, the right way up.
Come with me into the crowd that has followed Jesus away from the villages and up onto the hillside. What are we hearing? What does it mean to us?
We've been longing for this moment, you see, but we didn't know what it was going to be like. For generations we've all been taught that one day our God, the maker of heaven and earth, would come back to us and set everything right. But as time has gone on it's looked more and more as though he's forgotten us. Arrogant foreign soldiers have pushed their way into our land. Other nations, with their strange and lurid cultures, have taken over some of our towns and changed them into places where decent people wouldn't want to go. And the taxes they make us pay! Anyone would think we were still slaves, instead of God's free people.
But nobody quite knew what it would look like when God came back to us. Some people have said it would be like a great pillar of cloud and fire. Some have said he'd come riding at the head of a great army to defeat the horrible people who are making our lives miserable. Some have even said that we'd better not wait any longer, that perhaps God wants us to act first and then he'll come and help us.
So when we heard about this prophet who was going round the villages healing people and saying that the sovereign rule of heaven was now on the way, we were really excited. What's his plan? What's he saying is going to happen?
And now he's telling us that God is indeed on the move — and that people like us are going to come out on top! We've had our spirits crushed all right; we've been sorrowful, we've been longing for God's way to triumph. It's been a hunger eating away at us inside. And now he's saying that the poor in spirit will inherit heaven's kingdom, that the sorrowful will be comforted, that the hungry will be satisfied. All right! This is what we've been waiting for! But how will it hap- pen? What do we have to do? What are his plans for making it happen?
Well, he's saying some other things, too. He's saying that it's the meek who will inherit the earth — not the rich, the powerful, the violent or the pushy. Some people in the crowd don't like that. It sounds like a cop-out to them. And he's saying that the merciful and the peacemakers are the ones who will receive God's mercy, who will be called God's children (we think all the people of Israel are God's children; it sounds as though he's saying that God is reshaping Israel itself!). That's not going to please those who want to fight and kill to make God's will happen.
And then he's saying that it's going to be tough. People are going to hate us and persecute us. Well, we've had plenty of that already, so what's new? It sounds as though he's saying that God is doing a new thing — and that like the ancient prophets many of our own people won't like it. He wants us to follow him, even though it's going to be unpopular.
I don't know where this is leading. But I've never heard any- one speaking like this before. It's a whole new way of being God's people. It's a whole new way of being human. Well, we've tried everything else. Maybe, after all, this is what it's going to look like when God comes back to rescue us. I'm ready to sign up. What about you?
TODAY
Lord Jesus, help us to hear your voice, to accept your challenge, and to follow you in the way of your kingdom.
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Let’s pray:
Indeed Lord, any things are beyond our understanding and we do not know how the future may change. But help and guide us Lord, so that we can be sure footed of our next steps. Just want to thank You Lord. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen 🙏🏻
Amen
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