Are you clinging tenaciously to God?

 29 Mar 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One

Readings:

Joshua 23

Joshua 24

Luke 6:27-49

But you shall hold fast to the LORD your God (Joshua 23:8). 

Are you clinging tenaciously to God?

Joshua brings the nation of Israel to a fork in the road saying, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites” (Joshua 24:15). He completes the verse with his decision, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” He desires Israel to “hold fast to the LORD your God” (Joshua 23:8). The verb “hold fast” means to cling to, join together or stay with. It appears in Genesis 2:24 that a man should separate from his parents “and be joined to his wife.” Moreover, it is used of the Leviathan’s scales that “are joined one to another” (Job 41:17). In like fashion, we should cleave to God. 

Employment Point: Cling to the Lord and forsake idolatry.

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Reflections

“So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’”Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• as I read this verse, it is also a reminder that the Lord too, had gone before us and prepare the way ahead of us. We get to enjoy things we never toil or build for, all by His grace, that we ought to remember and be thankful and grateful for.
• Thank You Father for everything that You have blessed us with.

“Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.”Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭19‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• I remember a similar situation when I told my friend that I am ready to receive Christ. She told me about the sinners prayer and also warned me of the God’s wrath. She said that He is a jealous God and will not tolerate if I believe in other gods. I told her no, I will only believe in Him. Then I said the sinners prayer.
• We therefore chose and also are witnesses against ourselves that we have chosen to serve Him. We therefore, should be mindful and not incur His wrath by believing in anything else.

““Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.””Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭37‬-‭38‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• I believe these two verses kind of summarised what we should do as Christians and where our principles lie in face of our enemies. How the Lord taught and treated us is the way we should treat everyone else. There should be no preferences or biases. 
• Because we have freely received grace, mercy, forgiveness, etc from the Lord, we too, need to learn to give grace, mercy and forgiveness to others. That is how others see the light that is in us, which gives glory back to God.

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭42‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• This famous verse is also a clear reminder that it is not for us to judge anyone. We have no right, for everyone is made in God’s image. If we dare judge, we are judging God Himself. 
• The only thing we do, is to always seek to meditate and reflect upon our thoughts, words and deeds. Are there pleasing to His eyes, are we saying the right things that are placed on our tongue, or are we not guarding our tongue when we are supposed to?
• None of us is perfect. Let’s remember that. That’s why the church is a hospital and also why Jesus has to come.

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭45‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Guard our hearts, watch our speech
• This message is also part of our mission training for any mission trip. As many fail to recognise what the heart of mission is and have their own interpretation of what they think is missions and start to do their own thing. It is a dangerous place to be in if one wants to enter a mission field based on his own understanding. 

“As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭47‬-‭48‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• This is the Lord’s command for us all. To build rock solid foundations so that we will not be afraid of any storms or floods. It cannot bring us down because our foundations are well built and the challenges will not shake us
• Do not aim to reach somewhere when your foundations are shaky. It’s a risk that one is taking because it will just be sinking sand, not solid rock. 
• The journey of faith is a long journey. One cannot achieve it in a year or even five or maybe even ten. It is like running a marathon. We ought to start slow, steady, in easy chunks so we do not stress the body out. We need to be in pace with the Lord, not running ahead of Him or sprinting when we are not supposed to. Even when we grow tired and find it hard to run, we can always walk, take a break, hydrate and continue moving. Every step forward count. Just don’t give up for He never will.

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Our Lord’s Surprise Visits

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

March 29

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. — Luke 12:40

As disciples, we must be ready for Jesus to appear at every moment. This isn’t easy, no matter what our experience is. Our battle isn’t so much against sin or difficulties or circumstances; it’s against being so absorbed in our work that we fail to notice the Son of Man when he comes. And yet, this is the great need: not answering questions about our beliefs or our creeds or whether we are useful but being ready for him.

Jesus rarely comes where we expect him. He comes where we do not expect him, and through the most illogical chains of events. The only way a disciple can be true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. It isn’t service that matters; it’s intense spiritual reality; it’s being ready to welcome Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder God wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus, we have to stop being “religious.” That is, we have to stop treating religion as a higher kind of culture and become spiritually real. When we are spiritually real, Jesus is able to use us as he likes; at any second, he can visit others through us.

If you are looking to Jesus, if you’re setting your heart on what he wants and avoiding the call of the religious age you live in, you will be considered unpractical and dreamy. But when he appears in the burden and the heat of the day, you will be the one who is ready.

Trust no one who blocks your sight of Jesus Christ, not even the most devout Christian who ever walked the earth. Be always ready to greet the Lord, especially where you least expect him.

Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them. 

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Reflections

“Jesus rarely comes where we expect him”- this has to be true, else He would not be known as God. But I felt the reverse is also true. Places where we may not think that He is there, He usually is. He is where we least expect Him to be. Let’s not forget that He is omnipresent.

As I read this devotional, a few people came to mind. The people whom the Lord has used to minister to me, in various seasons, various situations. They are living out the Christian life and being spiritually real. And these people may not have realised, that the impact they have on others and I knew they were God sent. 

Some examples of these people who may not even realised their actions are major seeds that were sowed. A guy who passed me a track and told me not to smoke anymore as it is unhealthy. Subtle, not forced, and caring. I took a puff and threw away the rest and also the track 😂 but the memory remained. It’s actions, not words, that people are remembered.

A lady who prayed over me and touched my heart by the outpouring of her love for me. Another lady who called me when I hit the darkest valleys,  gave me encouragement and brought me out of the situation. A guy who checked on me and made sure I was ok as I was experiencing severe burnt out. Another guy who also prayed over me when I experienced trials, amongst many more.

All these acts, big and small showed me how the Lord loved and cared about me. And I sincerely pray that the Lord will use me as such to bless others as well in the days of my life, that I will be a ready vessel to be used by the Lord for His glory. All thanks be to God!

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Lent devotion Day 40/53

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:

Psalms 31:9-16

HOLY WEEK: PALM SUNDAY

I have on my shelves a Bible that my grandfather used when he was a student, a hundred or so years ago. It's good to have that sort of contact with earlier generations, but what pleases me particularly is being able to see how he read it, what was important to him in it. Here are his underlinings of particular passages. Here are the things he scribbled in the margins. When I remember him from my boyhood, he comes across as a cheerful, outdoor, friendly man. All that was true. But here, in his private jottings, I trace something of the inner man, and how he became who he was.

That is a small window on what we ought to think and feel as we read the Psalms and think of Jesus. It's passages like this that make it obvious; but really we should sense, all through the Psalter, his quiet presence, inhabiting the ancient traditions of his people, pondering and praying through the joys and the sorrows, reflecting on the portrait of the coming king, agonizing over the constant refrain of sorrow and exile. Here, if we listen carefully, we trace something of how Jesus became who he was. 'Even though he was the Son,' says an early Christian writer, 'he learned obedience by what he suffered' (Hebrews 5.8). And, as we read the Psalms, we realize how he learned that obedience. His own praying had been formed by these poems. We are privileged to pray them with him, sensing his presence as we do so.

It would be good to read the whole Psalm, of course, not just these central eight verses. According to Luke (23.46), Jesus prayed verse 5 ('into your hand I commit my spirit') as he hung dying on the cross. The opening of the Psalm sets the agony of the central passage into the context of a rock-bottom trust in God, despite all that the world can do. The closing passage, too, celebrates God's continuing and abundant goodness and protection. But here, in the middle, we find the passage which meant that, when Jesus was plotted against, whispered about, picked up by the soldiers, laughed at, spat at, abandoned by his friends, he knew this didn't mean he had somehow fallen out of God's hands. It didn't mean he had taken a wrong turn.

This lesson is vital for the church as a whole and for every individual Christian. Of course, it is possible to take a wrong turn and suffer the consequences. It's no use quoting these verses if you have rebelled and gone your own way, and find yourself in a mess as a result. The right thing then is to repent and get back on course as quickly as possible. But if, so far as you know, you have faithfully trusted and followed, and then find yourself in this kind of distress, lonely and misunderstood, it may be that this is simply part of your particular call to join in the prayer of Jesus, the suffering of Jesus, so that his life and joy may also be revealed in you and through you. Read 2 Corinthians 4 and see how one very early Christian came to exactly this conclusion, using the Psalms to help him.

And when the church as a whole finds itself in difficulties — lack of money, mocked in the media, perplexed about what to do next — that doesn't necessarily mean it's taken a wrong turn, either. Of course, scandals and divisions are shameful. It is all too possible for the church to get it horribly wrong. When that happens it must say sorry, to God and to everyone who's been affected. But sometimes God's people as a whole are called to follow their Lord through the darkness as well as into the light. That's why the Psalms remain indispensable in our public worship as well as our private prayer.

TODAY

Thank you, gracious Lord, that we can share your own prayer as we go through the darkness. Help us this coming week to stay close to you and to share your faith and hope.

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Let’s pray:

Thank You Father for helping us to see how You care and loved the world. Thank You Lord for asking us to see what troubles, sufferings or even humiliation that was sent Your way meant. That You are taking on our sins upon Your shoulders, that You suffered for our pardon and You gave Your life for our redemption. Help us Lord, not to take the life we live on earth for granted. Let it bring glory to Your name, use us as You please, as we commit our lives into a living sacrifice. All praise and thanks be to You O Lord. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen 🙏🏻