Do you regularly proclaim the deity of Jesus to others?

 23 May 26

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


Readings:

1 Chronicles 8

1 Chronicles 9

1 Chronicles 10

John 8:37-59


Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM (John 8:58). 


Do you regularly proclaim the deity of Jesus to others?


Jesus claims to be God. John's “I am” statements connect to Exodus 3:14, which show Jesus’ equality with the Father. He is hated because of making this connection, and the Jewish leaders “took up stones to throw at Him” (John 8:59). Later, Jesus says, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Observe the word “again” in the next verse: “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.” Why did they try to stone Him again? They respond to Him with the following statement: “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God” (John 10:33). John writes these things so that the world “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). 


Employment Point: Herald Jesus’ deity to the unsaved.

——————-

Reflections

“Some of them were in charge of the articles used in the temple service; they counted them when they were brought in and when they were taken out.”1 Chronicles‬ ‭9‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • This reminds me of the counting of controlled drugs we do at work. Every part of it was important and need to be accountable for. As with the instruments counting. Sometimes these somehow mundane tasks are also important in our lives. It will only take one time to destroy all the work we had done before. It is thus also important to remind ourselves that everything that God entrusts us to do are important, no matter how insignificant we may think it is.


“Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.”1 Chronicles‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • if you were God anointed to a special position or place, it is our duty to work it and to be committed in obedience to only stop when we are told. 
  • When we have this personal relationship with the Lord, it will eventually appear outwardly in our speech and our actions because Christ lives in us and guides are very life. We need to be good stewards and witnesses for Him, for His glory.


“Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭42‬-‭43‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • put it simply. If we love the Father, we would love His child too. There’s no reason not to. However in this case, the people claimed to know God but want to kill Jesus. Jesus was trying to talk sense into them but they would not listen. They do not believe Jesus and all that He says. I guess partly they saw how human he is, birth from man, so how can he be of God?
  • To be honest, if we are in the same kampung as Jesus, we may have behave in the same manner as well.

—————————

Careful Infidelity

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

May 23


Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.— Matthew 6:25


Jesus speaks of commonsense carefulness in a disciple as infidelity—a failure to have faith in him. If we’ve received the Spirit of God, he will press us on certain points, asking us to examine our common sense decisions and plans. “Where is God in this relationship?” the Spirit will ask. “Where is God in this carefully mapped-out vacation? In these new books?” God always presses a point until we learn to put him first in our thoughts. Whenever we put something else first, the result is confusion.


“Do not worry . . .” Refusing to worry means refusing to put pressure on ourselves about the future. Not only is it wrong to worry but
it’s also a lack of faith. Worry implies that we don’t believe God can look after the practical details of our lives.


Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word of God in us? The devil? No, the cares of the world—“the little foxes that ruin the vineyards” (Song of Songs 2:15). It is always the little worries that threaten to derail us. Yet worry becomes impossible once we accept Jesus Christ’s revelation that God is our Father and that we can never think of anything he will forget. 


People who trust Jesus Christ in a definite, practical way are freer than anyone else to do their work in the world. Free from fretting and worry, they are able to go about their days with absolute certainty because the responsibility for their lives rests not with them but with God.


Infidelity to God begins when we say, “I will not trust where I cannot see.” The only cure is obedience to the Spirit and abandonment
to Jesus Christ. “Abandon to me” is the great message of Jesus to his disciples.


1 Chronicles 19-21; John 8:1-27


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.

————————-

Reflections

Interesting that I read this devotional this morning cos the night before, I dreamt of a black fox that kept running away from me by rolling into a fur ball but always get caught and brought to me. On it was not a face of the fox but a really cute chubby baby like face that you feel like squeezing kind.


Perhaps it is a reminder from the Lord that I have little cares and concerns which did not allow me to trust Him fully and I am grateful for that, that the reminder came so gently and with so much love. 


So but yes, worry does not help us in any way. In fact it will only bring about anxiety and fear and that is not something that the Lord wants us to learn. He wants us to lean on Him, to surrender everything and outcome into His hands, to sing praises and worship Him even when we feel we are in the deep valleys. 


Indeed if we fully trust in Him, nothing will really shake us or bring us down. Because we have a God who is greater than anything else. May we be able to let Him reign in our lives so that we can “Cast all our anxiety on him because he cares for us.”1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬


Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we are thankful that You love us so much, that You even take the cares and worries away from us. Help us Lord in our unbelief and to surrender all into Your mighty hands. Help us to trust You, even when we cannot see or know what is ahead because Abba Father, You know all and that is enough. Thank You Abba Father. We praise and thank You. In Jesus’s name. Amen 🙏🏻 

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