Do you fearlessly proclaim the gospel to others?

 17 Jun 26

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

Readings:

Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah 5

Nehemiah 6

Acts 2:14-47

And [pray] for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19). 

Do you fearlessly proclaim the gospel to others?

Peter publicly denied the Lord three times, and Jesus confronted him three times about his love for Him (John 21:15- 19). Pentecost has arrived, and Peter is both baptized and filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4; 11:15-16). The timid fisherman comes to understand the following words of Jesus: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Peter, standing before a large crowd, heralds, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up” (Acts 2:23-24). The message results in three thousand souls being saved (Acts 2:41). Let’s also pursue the calling of catching men. 

Employment Point: Walk with Jesus and seek His power to boldly proclaim the gospel.

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Reflections

It is our duty as a child of God, to seek His power and boldly proclaim the gospel. May He give us the words to speak when needed and bring glory back to Him.

“Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.”Nehemiah‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• This was Nehemiah’s response to insults that were hurled against them. No shouting back nor any response but just committing all to the Lord in prayer. Wise indeed.
• This is something we can learn. When we know whatever we are doing is the right to do, it doesn’t matter if others insult us, etc. we cannot control how others think but we can commit it all into His hands and conscientiously continue on what needs to be done. No need to waste energy fighting with people who will not understand. Vengeance belongs to the Lord.

“When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭4‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• All who trusts in the Lord will never fail. 

“Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• I think whenever we are building something for the Lord, be it our own training or training for ministry, always have this mindset of readiness. Be like what this verse suggests, armed with armour / weapons so we are ready to fight if we were ever face with troubles. We know the enemies would not be happy for another win for the Lord. So always be on guard and stand watch.

“I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of their house and possessions anyone who does not keep this promise. So may such a person be shaken out and emptied!” At this the whole assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.”Nehemiah‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• this shaking out of the robe seemed to carry something significant. It’s not the first time we are reading this and it seemed to say that whatever it is if it is not done to what was said, it will be between them and God.
• It is a powerful reminder that the Lord always gives us chances but we too, ought not to push it till He closes that door.

“But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also Lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that.”Nehemiah‬ ‭5‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord. None of us should lord over our people.

“But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.”

‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• I pray that we all will have the discernment like Nehemiah, able to differentiate the truth and the lies and not fall into traps set by our enemies.
• Interesting how did Nehemiah know that God did not send Shemaiah to speak to him? I found some answers in “Enduring word”. 
• “Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah:” This man Shemaiah was said to be a prophet (he pronounced this prophecy), but he was not. Shemaiah offered Nehemiah a protected place in the temple. The idea was that though Nehemiah was said to be threatened, he could find refuge in the temple.
• Should such a man as I flee? Nehemiah, knowing the heart of God as it is revealed in the whole counsel of God’s word, had discernment. Shemaiah tried to create fear in Nehemiah and tried to get him to disobey God based on this fear.
• i. Only priests were allowed in the temple, and Nehemiah was not a priest. He would have been disobeying God if he had done what Shemaiah suggested. In 2 Chronicles 26, King Uzziah – who was not a priest – went into the temple, and God instantly struck him with leprosy.
• so Nehemiah avoided disaster by actually knowing his place, the word and also the heart of God

“Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.”Nehemiah‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• I like how this man always go to the Lord for matters such as these. We too, can model after him and seek the Lord always.

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.”Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• when Peter was speaking to the crowd back in those times, many bore witness (as many as 500) saw Jesus after He has risen before He ascended into heaven. He too had fulfilled what the prophets had spoken and recorded.

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭38‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• Repentance is the core of Jesus’s teaching.. when we repent, we receive God’s gift. We cannot be called children of God if there was no repentance 

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭42‬ ‭NIV‬‬

• these were the actions that were taken after they came to the Lord. For us, it should be the same as well. To devote our time to teaching, studying of the word, fellowship, attending church and prayers

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Beware of Criticizing Others

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

June 17

Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1

Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. 

Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

Nehemiah 7-9; Acts 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Much of the misery in our Christian life comes not because the devil tackles us, but because we have never understood the simple laws of our make-up. We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: when the body says “Sit,” and He says “Go,” go! When the body says “Eat,” and He says “Fast,” fast! When the body says “Yawn,” and He says “Pray,” pray!

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Reflections

Scripture has already told us not to judge. ““Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Lord has taught us to exercise grace, forgiveness, mercy and to look at others at how Jesus looks at them. How does He see people? I got a glimpse of how that looks like in certain encounters. For example, when I was being challenged or being talked down.

A first triggered emotion may be anger or even frustration. However, the Lord taught me to see it from another perspective. Instead of getting angry, we back out and try to see things from a higher perspective. The in-person perspective would limit our thinking, as well as our ability to solve problems. However having stepped backwards, we see ourselves not part of the equation but from a third party view. That view gives a more objective perspective to the situation so we will not get emotionally charged (which will not help with any situation).

When we take pauses instead of reacting, we are able to exercise empathy, be more open minded, and also able to give grace to others. At the same time, it allows us time to seek out one’s intentions. I find that often times, individuals may not exactly understand why people don’t wish to talk to them or avoid them altogether. They do not have bad intentions. Just that in most cases, it’s how a message is being conveyed. Either with tact or direct or blunt. Nobody said that being blunt is wrong but if it was cushioned nicely, that message is definitely more palatable.

So the bottomline for us, is to understand that everyone is born differently and therefore will communicate differently due to the way they are brought up or perhaps how they are being shaped by the environment. Not everyone who seemed to be critical are critical people. They may have been shaped to be like this because that may be the only way they know to effectively communicate. 

Look for the good in others and for the good intentions behind every action or word. If we are not being critical of others, others will not appear to be critical to us. It all stems from our heart. So if you find someone being such, perhaps we need to seek Him first and ask for His forgiveness. Stay grounded and be humble to everyone. There is always something to learn from everyone we meet, even our enemies. Don’t dwell on the negatives but seek out the light in them. Eventually you will realised that everyone is really not as bad as we make them out to be in the first place.

Let’s pray:

Abba Father, forgive us in the times we become critical of others and only focused on the negatives. We had totally forgotten that every fellow brother and sister are all made in Christ-likeness, that we ought to also learn to love our enemies. Father thank You for teaching us and giving us more than second chances to change and learn, and to embrace one another as one family. Let us continue to remember that none of us are without sin and therefore has no reason to condemn anyone else. Help us to live the risen life and sin no more. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen 🙏🏻